Bio
12 years in the making, Undular Bore is the new “experimental project forum” for electronisist, Troy Swanson. Troy has created, recorded, and produced his own brand of electronic music for over 37 years including inventing his own electo-accoustic instruments. After departing from doom supergroup ASVA, and providing synth textures on Alter (Boris/ SunnO))), Troy has melded these inspirations to create a music rich in ambient texture, full of bottom heavy vibrations, elements of noise, and light treatments of floating glacial melodies. “this” will be the first in a series of compositions that are layered in improvisational interludes comprising of Troy’s collection of over 55 vintage electronic instruments, percussion, and his specifically designed instrument, dubbed the Corpus Callosum. Undular Bore will serve as Troy’s next outlet for continued exploration of music descendant from his extensive experience of electronics.
Troy began experimenting with synthesizers in 1984 creating multimedia performances. By 1987 Troy was becoming establish in a small scene and collaborated in producing monthly multimedia events some mentioned in the film Spokanarchy. In 1989 Troy found himself studying music composition at Cornish College of the arts where he focused on honing his craft with electronic music skills, juxtaposing music from Southeast Asia, specifically Gamelan. He attended a week of classes with guest residency composer, John Cage. It is here where he began collaborations with people like Reggie Watts Tim Young and Eyvind Kang to name a few and wrote a number of full-length pieces for modern dance. In 1991 Troy was introduced to German born MacArthur artist Trimpin and spent the next ten years assisting with the fabrication of Trimpin’s automated musical sculptures while continuing to perform solo and play cameos on local artists recordings.
Throughout the 90’s, Troy continued to play live shows with a focus on electronic improvisation, incorporating film, and recording as he grew his collection of vintage instruments. In 1996, Inspired by Cage, Gamalan and Trimpin, Troy invented the first of 3 instruments he called the Corpus Callosum. This is an instrument comprised of piano strings and bolts and played as a percussion instrument with one string being bowed to play melodies.
By 2000 Troy had played on 20 recordings including the band Kinski and a solo record by Matt Chamberlain featuring Jon Brion. in 2003 Troy became an engineer at Hanszek Audio working beside Jack Endino as an assistant. In 2005 Troy recorded with the doom metal band ASVA and was asked to become a full-time member. He recorded 2 full length records with ASVA and toured Europe twice as well as two . In 2006 he was asked to provide synth textures for the Boris/ sunnO collaboration named Alter. After a back injury in 2007 limited his live performing, Troy spent this time recording in his heavy arsenaled electronic studio and watching his son’s little league baseball games.
In 2009 he created the concept for the current project Undular Bore. By 2012 he had 3 pieces complete but wanted to record a fourth piece to complete and round out the album. That piece took time to manifest and, in the meantime, Troy began to play drums and percussion to stay active musically while continuing to collect and record on vintage keyboards and synths. Undular Bore was finally completed in 2018 and mixed by Mell Dettmer in 2019. Troy is excited to share this new music and get this out as his first official solo release.
Without further ado…. Undular Bore.
12 years in the making, Undular Bore is the new “experimental project forum” for electronisist, Troy Swanson. Troy has created, recorded, and produced his own brand of electronic music for over 37 years including inventing his own electo-accoustic instruments. After departing from doom supergroup ASVA, and providing synth textures on Alter (Boris/ SunnO))), Troy has melded these inspirations to create a music rich in ambient texture, full of bottom heavy vibrations, elements of noise, and light treatments of floating glacial melodies. “this” will be the first in a series of compositions that are layered in improvisational interludes comprising of Troy’s collection of over 55 vintage electronic instruments, percussion, and his specifically designed instrument, dubbed the Corpus Callosum. Undular Bore will serve as Troy’s next outlet for continued exploration of music descendant from his extensive experience of electronics.
Troy began experimenting with synthesizers in 1984 creating multimedia performances. By 1987 Troy was becoming establish in a small scene and collaborated in producing monthly multimedia events some mentioned in the film Spokanarchy. In 1989 Troy found himself studying music composition at Cornish College of the arts where he focused on honing his craft with electronic music skills, juxtaposing music from Southeast Asia, specifically Gamelan. He attended a week of classes with guest residency composer, John Cage. It is here where he began collaborations with people like Reggie Watts Tim Young and Eyvind Kang to name a few and wrote a number of full-length pieces for modern dance. In 1991 Troy was introduced to German born MacArthur artist Trimpin and spent the next ten years assisting with the fabrication of Trimpin’s automated musical sculptures while continuing to perform solo and play cameos on local artists recordings.
Throughout the 90’s, Troy continued to play live shows with a focus on electronic improvisation, incorporating film, and recording as he grew his collection of vintage instruments. In 1996, Inspired by Cage, Gamalan and Trimpin, Troy invented the first of 3 instruments he called the Corpus Callosum. This is an instrument comprised of piano strings and bolts and played as a percussion instrument with one string being bowed to play melodies.
By 2000 Troy had played on 20 recordings including the band Kinski and a solo record by Matt Chamberlain featuring Jon Brion. in 2003 Troy became an engineer at Hanszek Audio working beside Jack Endino as an assistant. In 2005 Troy recorded with the doom metal band ASVA and was asked to become a full-time member. He recorded 2 full length records with ASVA and toured Europe twice as well as two . In 2006 he was asked to provide synth textures for the Boris/ sunnO collaboration named Alter. After a back injury in 2007 limited his live performing, Troy spent this time recording in his heavy arsenaled electronic studio and watching his son’s little league baseball games.
In 2009 he created the concept for the current project Undular Bore. By 2012 he had 3 pieces complete but wanted to record a fourth piece to complete and round out the album. That piece took time to manifest and, in the meantime, Troy began to play drums and percussion to stay active musically while continuing to collect and record on vintage keyboards and synths. Undular Bore was finally completed in 2018 and mixed by Mell Dettmer in 2019. Troy is excited to share this new music and get this out as his first official solo release.
Without further ado…. Undular Bore.