The Laws of Nature

Andrew Staniland • June 3, 2025

Pre-Save Now! Album drops August 1 2025

This album is the culmination of years of musical and technological exploration with the JADE digital musical instrument developed at MEARL (Memorial ElectroAcoustic Research Lab). While JADE has three modes of operation (touch mode, ambient mode, and biosensor mode), it’s EEG mode has been the primary focus of this project. Using an EEG sensing headband, JADE sonifies brain waves, creating MIDI and audio data that can be shaped and sculpted into melody, harmony, and rhythm by a composer. Upon receiving a commission from Kittiwake Dance Theatre to create a new work for dance, I proposed to use this EEG technology to create musical material on which to base my composition. We began with improvisation workshops where the dancers would individually wear the EEG headband and experiment with movement while I sonified their brain waves in real time. These explorations were recorded in MIDI and audio, and in turn these recordings were used as the main musical building blocks for the series of six Dancer Portraits.  These miniatures are self-contained and unique, preserving the essence of each dancer’s improvisations. 


 The Laws of Nature  further develops the musical material from the dance sessions, however with significantly more compositional curation and planning in terms of structure and musical material. The work unfolds over six interwoven movements. It is a hybrid composition that blends elements of electronic, classical, and cinematic sound. At the end of the composition, we hear the voice of a long time collaborator Jill Battson reading “The laws of nature are but the mathematical thoughts of God.” from Euclid's Elements - a reference from my JUNO-Nominated ballet Phi-Caelestis created with the National Arts Centre and Alberta Ballet.


This work was orchestrated with the intention of being experienced in Dolby Atmos surround sound. 


Dancers in rehearsal -  Kittiwake Dance Theater. Choreography by Martin Vallee. Photos by Andrew Staniland

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Link Tree for pre-save

Scoring SKEET

By Andrew Staniland • February 10, 2025
Finding Billy Skinner's Sound Finding the right tone for Billy Skinner and his black and white cinematic world was key. The music needed to evoke empathy for Billy while complementing the black and white cinematography of Nigel Markham. This was achieved through careful instrumentation and the strategic use of musical motifs. The 'band' for Skeet consists of electric and acoustic guitars, synths, strings, piano, tube amps, and old school FX. The unifying musical motif is "Billy's Theme," uses a pivoting figure: a low note and a high note rocking back and forth on a middle fulcrum. This motif represents Billy's struggle to balance—he has an equal capacity to both fall back to violence and addiction, and to rise up in hope and love. Though I called it "Billy's Theme," I feel everyone's struggle in this motif as well: Mohamed, as a Syrian refugee making a life in Canada, and Leah and Mae as struggling addicts. This simple but effective motif holds the score together from beginning to end. You can hear this motif in all of the Livingston Variations, and in Billy's Theme.

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Inventions for Trumpets

By Andrew Staniland • September 22, 2020
A new piece for trumpets written during the early pandemic Inventions for Trumpets is a series of 5 movements: Sirens, Butterflies, The Secret Death Toll of American Drones, Ghosts, and Rip. The piece can be played as an acoustic duo for 2 trumpets, and as an electronic version where the 2nd trumpet part is reimagined for the electroacoustic medium.  Sirens is a study on siren-like glissandos and siren sounds on both the trumpet and in the electronics, and the internal feeling of alarm and fear that accompanied the early days of the pandemic. Butterflies – this explores flutter technique on the trumpet, while the electronics explore closely recorded insects and other freely associated sounds, as well as rustling piano sounds reminiscent of previous work electroacoustic work Orion Constellation Theory. The title The Secret Death Toll of American Drones comes from a NYTimes article of the same name that crossed my newsfeed. It is a virtuoso etude for piccolo trumpet intended to evoke a quasi-military style. The work begins in a call and response between high trumpet and low trumpet, or trumpet and electronics, then moves to unison statement by the end. The electronics and acoustic versions both use a drone pedal to anchor the virtuoso lines, while the electronics use freely associated sounds inspired by the title of the movement Ghosts is a quiet and slow exploration timbre and colour that focuses on air sounds, valve noise, and breath. The electronics feature an import voice from the past, a ghost as it were, from my early days as an electroacoustic composer. Rip is a playful virtuoso duo that is based around rips, which are quick and exciting runs up an overtone series. This movement does not have a prepared electroacoustic part, rather, the trumpeter is invited to record the 2nd trumpet part and play the first part along with it. The piece was written in the lockdown period of the COVID 19 pandemic, between March and August 2020. It was written for Alan Klaus with financial support from the SOCAN foundation. Premiere coming online in November 2020 at the Newfound Music Festival. Details coming soon!
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