Abstraction can be a powerful tool to cut through structure and tradition to convey distilled human expression. It can be argued that too heavy a hand in this direction can make a work inaccessible, but when handled deftly, abstract art, performance, and music can reveal a universality of experience that transcends chronological, geographical, and even cultural boundaries. With its ties to mathematics and theory, music is perhaps the most inherently abstract of all art forms, yet the power of music to evoke powerful emotions is a cross-cultural phenomenon. Certain songs have been credited with causing suicide and specific note progressions are said to be created by the devil himself. When musicians eschew traditional forms of music and experiment with the range of sounds at their disposal, the results are by their nature unpredictable, but exploring the road less traveled can lead to moments of powerful emotional connection. Continue reading →