The rock garden at Ryoanji temple in Kyoto contains fifteen large black rocks (“islands”) surrounded by raked white sand. However, no matter where you stand you can never see all fifteen at once. In this work, in which I contemplate the idea of “islands” of breathless activity surrounded by “raked sands” of static noise textures, you only hear 14 “islands” — the 15th, however, is present within the music, but passes unheard.
14 Islands was commissioned by, and dedicated to, the players of Flight and Dutchman (Bridget Douglas, Carolyn Mills and Arnold Marinissen).