Matthew Daher: The Wisdom to Know the Difference

Detroit artist Matthew Daher’s creative work is an exploration of mental health, empathy, spirituality and masculinity. His practice is informed by over 15 years of experimentation in ambient, electroacoustic, jazz, hip-hop, and folk music, meditation practice, and experimental movement practices.

In the workshop portion of the evening, Matthew Daher will break down drum triggering techniques using contact microphone drum triggers, Ableton Live, and aptrigga3 sampler plugins. The workshop will provide an introduction to building sonic textures generated from impulses on the drums and cymbals and balancing predictability and randomization in compositional process. Participants will benefit from having an intermediate level of experience with Ableton Live -- though curious participants of all levels of experience with Ableton Live are welcome.

In the performance portion of the evening, Daher will perform compositions the project's debut full length album "The Wisdom to Know the Difference Volume I".

The Wisdom to Know the Difference is Matthew Daher’s electroacoustic solo project exploring the limits and possibilities of control and agency on both a sonic and spiritual level. Using Ableton Live, contact mic drum triggers, and samplers, Daher processes acoustic drums and vocals, blends them with lush textures, and triggers other sonic events from the drumkit at varying degrees of randomness. Song-structured webs of intended and unintended sonic consequences emerge in compositions that explore grief, ancestral communion, astrology, social anxiety, archetypal parts of self, and other themes related to mental health and healing. Daher has performed the project in over 20 cities across the eastern US and Canada, including performances at the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit.