JACK LANGDON

is a musician, filmmaker, and writer with concentrations in experimental music, minimalist documentary, cultural criticism, and political economy.

born in 1994, enrolled in sault ste. marie tribe of chippewa indians

nindaa gichi-neyaashiing

[archive and documentation of past performances can be found here]

UPCOMING EVENTS

8.7.25

Jeff Kimmel (clarinets), Jack Langdon (bibigwan),
Stephan Haluska (harp), & Adam Shead (percussion)
Comfort Station
Chicago, IL

8.8.25

Jack Langdon (bibigwan)
Marmalade
Chicago, IL

8.21.25

Premiere of “Cheap Dream” for harpsichord by Justin Wallace
Britton Recital Hall, University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI

10.12.25

Jack Langdon (bibigwan)
The Whistler
Chicago, IL

BIOGRAPHY, CV, CONTACT

A Family of Things Rendered as Magic Chords
a book of harmony, images, and stories
work in-progress

Created as the first print project of Empty Stage Editions, A Family of Things Rendered as Magic Chords arose from a desire to return to the building blocks of music and to find new paths not taken in the canon of modern tuning systems. The book arose from a questioning in my own work regarding the basis of the harmonic languages I utilize and the imperatives towards “rationality” and “systematicity” in various tuning systems available. Rather than seeking legitimacy in performative pragmatism (keyboard temperments, EDOs) or scientistic schemas (extended just intonation), I radically center my own empirical listening capacity in constructing a series of harmonies based on the unmeasured tuning of tones. Through this method, specious forms of musical universality and theoretical generalizations are avoided. This book acts as a harmonic, pictorial, and narrative companion to my work as a composer—constructing an annex where sound, things in the world, and meaning coalesce.

Category
Writing