Referential

An ongoing musical collaboration between Malcolm Miles and Andrew Allen began with a casual conversation in Spring 2004. Under discussion was the idea of preparing a short musical performance for a forthcoming Sonic Arts concert at Colchester Institute. A mutual interest in both improvised and electronic music provided the starting point for their first piece, ‘Referential Treatment’. The music was improvised and drew from a large range of textural saxophone sounds (including key clicks, multiphonics, breath noises, tonguing sounds and overtone effects) combined with digital sampling, looping and effects processing. The success of this initial collaboration eventually led to a repeat performance in 2005 with new material and compositional approaches being developed after that. By 2006, ‘Referential Treatment’ had been adopted as the name of the duo. More significantly, increasing confidence with a broader range of technologies facilitated a much wider sound palette, culminating in the CD release of ‘Sounds from the Horizon’ in 2008. In 2009-10, the ensemble name was shortened to ‘Referential’ as the idea of working with additional musicians was developed and new material performed. The core of ‘Referential’ now includes Michael Allen on drums and percussion.