EarthQuaker Session: RYAT - "Resonation After the Earthquake Improv"
Aaron Rogers
Christina McGeehan is a musical shapeshifter. As RYAT, she performs with an ever rotating cast of musicians, visual artists, dancers, or even entire orchestras; playing “meditative avant jazz improvisations, classical composition, traditional songwriting, interactive multi-medium performance, and installation art.”
In 2012, her music caught the ear of producer Flying Lotus, who currently distributes part of RYAT’s catalog on his Brainfeeder imprint. Since then, her performance piece “Alt Mode” has been featured in New York’s Central Park, and her score to the film Tasting the Moon won “Best Music Video” at the Sixth Annual Los Angeles International Underground Film Festival, and “Best Short” at the Tenth Annual Indie Fest USA International Film Festival.
When we visited RYAT in Los Angeles, she treated us to this somber improvisation titled, “Resonation After the Earthquake Improv.” Here McGheehan’s dreamy vocal floats among subtle reverb-laden Fender Rhodes chords, courtesy of the Afterneath, while the Rainbow Machine (with all knobs set to noon) acts as a tasteful double tracking effect. As the piece progresses, she slowly tweaks the Rainbow Machine to create the illusion that her piano is slowly coming apart at the seams, before collapsing into a cloud of Magic dust.
RYAT’s Ryat Remixes EP is available now.
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