Limit was composed for two ensembles with whom I have long artistic relationships, Paramirabo from Montréal, and Hopper from Liège, and it was a great pleasure to be part of their joining forces for the first time. Looking at the instrumental forces of the commission, I saw a lot of potential for a noisy, distorted sound world - with electric guitar, synthesizer, and two clarinets, whose closed-tube construction emphasizes odd harmonics in the same way that distortion creates wave-folding. And so, built around the idea of distortion, square waves, and odd harmonics, I wrote the piece as an homage to two genres of music close to my heart: industrial music and musique concrète. The piece was premiered in Belgium, so I wanted to give a special nod to one of my favourite groups from there who ended their activity this year after more than 30 years: Front 242. The piece also gives nods and sometimes direct quotations from works by Einstürzende Neubauten, Depeche Mode, Nitzer Ebb, as well as Pièrre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry.

The piece was composed partly during a residency at the Centre Henri Pousseur in Liège, and I wish to thank Patrick Delges for his technical assistance during the residency and the production.

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