Sxip Shirey
Sxip Shirey
Gene "Sxip" Shireyis an American electric-acoustic composer, performer, and story-teller. Currently based in New York City, he is known for working with found objects, traditional instruments, and computer and rare modified instruments. Shirey has released three solo albums, including Sonic New York in 2010. Shirey is a member of The Daredevil Opera Company and is a founding member of the band Luminescent Orchestrii, as well as the band Gentlemen & Assassins. He is the host and producer of Sxip's Hour...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionMusician
CountryUnited States of America
In many ways I'm an experimental and new music composer that comes from a rural tradition rather than an urban one.
I live in a neighborhood that's really filled with sound - there's a lot of Jamaican auto body shops, and the guys next door play hip hop.
I compose with bells a lot. Bells and breath. Both things you react to without thinking about it. Bells traditionally give us orders: come to the desk, the truck is backing up, the ice cream is here, it's time to go to church. They're sounds our brains are already associated with.
Art is borne out of necessity. Music is a tool and men are doers. When a relationship is working, you don't need to write a song-you need to get toilet paper.
I'm the anti indie-rocker. My stuff isn't ironic.
The way I approach things is from an experimental folk music standpoint.
I was obsessed with the Beatles as a kid.