Dissolve Into Light
Intro
For this project, I did not set out with any concrete images or narratives in mind. All tracks were performed completely improvised, without any pre-written scores, and this became one of the essential characteristics shaping the work.
While I initially considered giving each track an abstract, structural title such as ‘Part I, II...’, after listening and reflecting on the music multiple times, I found myself drawn to certain impressions— especially the senses of light, its flow, and shade. This ultimately led to unique titles for each track.
Rather than attempting to define the intent behind each performance or fix the essence of each piece, my approach is to reinterpret the sensory and psychological spaces evoked by the music itself. This form of reinterpretation acts like a kind of dialogue within the open structure of improvisation one moment making a statement, the next responding in turn, both with and — without words. These are feelings and perceptions not as a performer, but as a listener and creator. Through this, the music expands in new directions. For other creators or listeners, these impressions might manifest in their own unique ways, each continuing to move with the music in its own fashion.
I have not included detailed explanations for each piece. Instead, I hope that outlining the overall structure of the album and its connection to McCall’s work will allow a wider space for creators and listeners alike. This piece is closer to an experiential structure shaped through the relationships arising from McCall’s artistic philosophy; I hope that each listener’s own version of the music will emerge and be experienced in their own inner space.
The feelings and sensations, expressed through recurring motifs and sounds themselves, will be newly reconstructed and reinterpreted within the listener’s or creator’s mind even after the music ends. After it finishes, it is broken up, expanded, and transformed into other forms within the mind. Because so many elements that make up this work escape linear time, the music tries to scatter in as many directions as possible sometimes relating to the past, sometimes to the — future, often all at once.
Track List
1. From the Light (7:03)
2. In the Wake of Sunrise (10:14)
3. The Veil (14:41)
4. The Shape of Absence (11:41)
5. Beneath the Surface (9:44)
6. Over the Horizon (11:26)
7. Together, Toward the Dusk (15:00)
8. Dissolve Into Light (12:56)
Total Duration: 1hr 32min
Credits
Piano: An Gwang Hyeon
Tenor/Soprano Saxophone: Son Sungjae
Recording Engineer: Hyomin Kang
Recorded
May 17th, 2025, Brickwall Sound, Seoul
Note
『Dissolve Into Light (Working Title) is an improvisational music project inspired by Anthony 』 McCall’s concepts of time-space structure and artistic philosophy. Borrowing from the cinematic form of time-based art, this project creates a layered sense of space through repeated motifs and the tension of light, echoing McCall’s explorations. Each improvisational performance connects organically, forming a unified musical structure one large whole.
The eight improvised performances, arranged in the order they were recorded, weave a single "process" that embraces the times of both past and future. The two performers continually respond to each other, moving toward one another, with awkwardness, tension, and subtle shifts arising in between. Each take is not isolated, but lives within an organically connected continuum, sharing time and space.
The power of performing with recurring motifs and improvisational forms generates new memories and premonitions within the performer an experience of simultaneity, where the past and future — coexist. These elements invite us to question the non-linearity of time in music. Does music only move forward like a line? Or does it disperse, simultaneously connecting past, present, and future? This process is full of potential, as the fragments of sound reconstructed within the creator's own space become sensations and emotions sometimes impossible to put into words.
Such questions and feelings lead the creator and listener not to a “finished form,” but to a structure composed of many layers of perception a space always in motion. Accumulated — repetition and subtle variation become the canvas, and music, while gradually forming recognizable shapes, always lingers in the movement of process. Listening to and dwelling within this music, one experiences not a fixed story but something closer to an installation or a field— music that exists in time and space, felt through the act of lingering and dwelling, rather than racing toward a climax or fixed point.
Unfolding over approximately 90 minutes, Dissolve Into Light begins in light and dissolves back 『 』 into light. Each fragmentary moment meets another, and the structure lingers, overturns, breaks apart, and reassembles. It never quite arrives anywhere; rather, it constantly circles the inner space of whoever is listening.
Dissolve Into Light
Intro
For this project, I did not set out with any concrete images or narratives in mind. All tracks were performed completely improvised, without any pre-written scores, and this became one of the essential characteristics shaping the work.
While I initially considered giving each track an abstract, structural title such as ‘Part I, II...’, after listening and reflecting on the music multiple times, I found myself drawn to certain impressions— especially the senses of light, its flow, and shade. This ultimately led to unique titles for each track.
Rather than attempting to define the intent behind each performance or fix the essence of each piece, my approach is to reinterpret the sensory and psychological spaces evoked by the music itself. This form of reinterpretation acts like a kind of dialogue within the open structure of improvisation one moment making a statement, the next responding in turn, both with and — without words. These are feelings and perceptions not as a performer, but as a listener and creator. Through this, the music expands in new directions. For other creators or listeners, these impressions might manifest in their own unique ways, each continuing to move with the music in its own fashion.
I have not included detailed explanations for each piece. Instead, I hope that outlining the overall structure of the album and its connection to McCall’s work will allow a wider space for creators and listeners alike. This piece is closer to an experiential structure shaped through the relationships arising from McCall’s artistic philosophy; I hope that each listener’s own version of the music will emerge and be experienced in their own inner space.
The feelings and sensations, expressed through recurring motifs and sounds themselves, will be newly reconstructed and reinterpreted within the listener’s or creator’s mind even after the music ends. After it finishes, it is broken up, expanded, and transformed into other forms within the mind. Because so many elements that make up this work escape linear time, the music tries to scatter in as many directions as possible sometimes relating to the past, sometimes to the — future, often all at once.
Track List
1. From the Light (7:03)
2. In the Wake of Sunrise (10:14)
3. The Veil (14:41)
4. The Shape of Absence (11:41)
5. Beneath the Surface (9:44)
6. Over the Horizon (11:26)
7. Together, Toward the Dusk (15:00)
8. Dissolve Into Light (12:56)
Total Duration: 1hr 32min
Credits
Piano: An Gwang Hyeon
Tenor/Soprano Saxophone: Son Sungjae
Recording Engineer: Hyomin Kang
Recorded
May 17th, 2025, Brickwall Sound, Seoul
Note
『Dissolve Into Light (Working Title) is an improvisational music project inspired by Anthony 』 McCall’s concepts of time-space structure and artistic philosophy. Borrowing from the cinematic form of time-based art, this project creates a layered sense of space through repeated motifs and the tension of light, echoing McCall’s explorations. Each improvisational performance connects organically, forming a unified musical structure one large whole.
The eight improvised performances, arranged in the order they were recorded, weave a single "process" that embraces the times of both past and future. The two performers continually respond to each other, moving toward one another, with awkwardness, tension, and subtle shifts arising in between. Each take is not isolated, but lives within an organically connected continuum, sharing time and space.
The power of performing with recurring motifs and improvisational forms generates new memories and premonitions within the performer an experience of simultaneity, where the past and future — coexist. These elements invite us to question the non-linearity of time in music. Does music only move forward like a line? Or does it disperse, simultaneously connecting past, present, and future? This process is full of potential, as the fragments of sound reconstructed within the creator's own space become sensations and emotions sometimes impossible to put into words.
Such questions and feelings lead the creator and listener not to a “finished form,” but to a structure composed of many layers of perception a space always in motion. Accumulated — repetition and subtle variation become the canvas, and music, while gradually forming recognizable shapes, always lingers in the movement of process. Listening to and dwelling within this music, one experiences not a fixed story but something closer to an installation or a field— music that exists in time and space, felt through the act of lingering and dwelling, rather than racing toward a climax or fixed point.
Unfolding over approximately 90 minutes, Dissolve Into Light begins in light and dissolves back 『 』 into light. Each fragmentary moment meets another, and the structure lingers, overturns, breaks apart, and reassembles. It never quite arrives anywhere; rather, it constantly circles the inner space of whoever is listening.