Project Stargate

ensemble 2 percussionists and 2 keyboardists
written fall 2024
duration 9-10 minutes

Commissioned by the icarus Quartet, as part of their 2024-25 iQ Test Scholarship

In the second half of the 20th century, the CIA began pouring research money into secretive research projects that explored the fringes of human psychology. The scope of their interests was wide, ranging from psychedelic drugs to sensory deprivation. Conspiracy theories, perhaps unsurprisingly, trended among the public, and after decades of categorical denial, the government would quietly unseal swathes of shadowy experimentation in the form of comprehensive dossiers made available for public consumption. Experimentation programs like MKUltra swiftly became the stuff of legend, immortalized in all kinds of speculative fiction and art.

While Project MKUltra might be the better known of these research endeavors, Project Stargate was no less fascinating. Focusing instead on subject matter more befitting a Stephen King novel than a serious research investigation, Project Stargate concentrated on topics like telekinesis, telepathy, and remote viewing. Given the era’s contemporaneous fascination with Satanism, extrasensory perception, and the occult, it was perhaps unsurprising that someone would eventually attempt serious scientific inquiry into the topic.

This piece leans into the stylings of conspiracy thrillers and analog horror, intermixing actual findings from Project Stargate with cryptic imagery and occult-themed symbolism. The music alternates between harsh, static-like interruptions and shimmering, interlocked keyboard writing as the visuals journey from found-footage VHS clips to Zener card ESP tests and beyond. Over the course of the work, audience members are implicated in the video’s unfurling as they find themselves unwitting test subjects.

Project Stargate was composed for the brilliant musicians of icarus Quartet, whose adventurous spirit and collaborative generosity inspired me to approach this work with much gusto and enthusiasm.