Kynan Robinson - Solo In Red (2022)

The novels Blood Meridian, Sutree, Child of God and The Border Trilogy by Cormac McCarthy have been wholly influential in creating this performance of Solo in Red.

During the creative process, the brain desperately searches for new ideas, and as a composer and artistic director, Kynan Robinson felt he was prepared to make a statement of deep, personal importance. His preliminary ideas were blurred, and resembled something akin to what he terms a ‘disassembled mosaic’ where he found himself in a state of creative confusion.

Critically praised for dismantling the mythology associated with the traditional ‘Wild West’, Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian is based on historical events that occurred on the border of Texas and Mexico during the 1850s. The novel follows the story of ‘The Kid’, a fifteen year old runaway from Tennessee and his experiences with the Glanton Gang, a group of notoriously violent scalp hunters from the mid-west. The subject-matter, language and flow of the text formed the foundation of Kynan Robinson’s latest compositional work.

Robinson found solace in McCarthy’s writing as well as a similar philosophical outlook to his own, exemplified by the use of literal and metaphorical language and recurring themes of detachment, tension, harshness, and the fragility of life. The dry wit also found in McCarthy’s writing complemented Robinson’s personal perspective, mirroring his own understanding and contrasting against the rigid framework and realities of every day.

After 18 months of experimentation, Robinson was then able to piece together the mosaic, collect his thoughts and ideas, and discover a multifaceted and creative way to express them; the result is Solo in Red.

“McCarthy’s books come at you like a horrifying flood, a poetic and troubled rush of debris. His writing is sparse, and operates within a supernatural or spiritual overlay that draws bleak attention to religion, truth and existence with his words presenting both the absolute beauty and absolute ugliness of existence, often within the same sentence. If you choose to enter McCarthy’s spiritual world, it will often result in the realization of both frightening and peaceful truths. With Solo in Red, I feel as though I have found the creative and artistic voice I have been searching for throughout my entire career, which has been nurtured to meet at the intersection of music, literature, and multimedia art. McCarthy’s texts introduced me to a new literary model from which I have been able to base my musical concepts on and expand on these captivating themes and atmospheres he creates as a writer, which in turn absorb you as a reader. It was this kind of absorption that I was interested and invested in creating and subsequently making my own.”

Combining with the extraordinary talents of Visual Artists Michelle Robinson, Dotahn Caspi, and Sean Kelly, Solo In Red was created, a work that included music, video, lighting and even scent, that sits right in the atmosphere of a Cormac McCarthy Novel and works on all the senses to provide an experience that is both outstandingly beautiful, mesmerizing and haunting.