Written for Splinter Reeds and part of a larger project. The live ensemble plays along with fixed media. The audio for each piece is a collage compiled from different recordings of the same song—focusing on moments where the lyrics have colors in them. Colours’ visual use of language Is influenced by artists like Ed Ruscha, Glen Ligon, Barbara Kruger, and Jenny Holzer. The music embraces the concept of palimpsest on many levels. The audio collages play with memory and earworms in a minimalist theme and variations, akin to Steve Reich’s work involving pre-recorded audio (Different Trains, It’s Gonna Rain, etc.). The live musicians and singers layer meaning on top of this collaged audio minimalism, focusing the process-driven dispersion of meaning into a coherent dramatic arc. There is also a large influence of experimental film on Colours. In particular, Philip Greenaway’s 70s films Vertical Features Remake and Windows—which adhere to and humorously critique the tenets of structural film and conceptual art.