Minor Characters

“‘Minor Characters’ seems to ask: If everyone is distracted online, following their own taste, how do we solve problems together? Even though the show feels complete, there is no true resolution.” 
– The New York Times, August 2023, Seth Colter Walls

The music, co-authored by Dubliner Jennifer Walshe and Australian-born, London-based composer Matthew Shlomowitz, traverses a variety of styles – ranging from rock through vaporwave and cabaret music to ASMR influences. The score captures the varied forms of digital life in a collage-like structure that is as unpredictable as scrolling through the algorithmically curated chaos of a feed. It will be performed at Radialsystem by Ensemble Nikel on percussion, electric guitar, piano, saxophone and synthesizers, and by Walshe herself, whose performance and singing reveals the full spectrum of her multifarious artistry, including extended techniques, free improvisation and composed elements.

As the title “Minor Characters” suggests, the work draws inspiration from the mundane, sometimes humorous figures who populate online spaces but never quite achieve top-level status. The text – curated from social media snippets, conspiracy theories and digital detritus – captures the quirks of internet subcultures and modern life’s absurdities, reflected in song titles such as “Your Uncle is Into the Crypto Now”. In other words: The piece is a critical observation on religion, gender, sex, politics and the hierarchical elements that distort them all. In Walshe’s words: “And yet here we are seven years on, still flailing, ties fraying, adrift in the wash of users, in the waves of loved ones lost to doing their own research, bobbing amidst the debris looking for a raft to cling.”