Performances will take place at The Chocolate Factory Theater, 38-33 24th Street, Long Island City.

In his first major project since Screamers, an experimental feature film (which premiered at Abrons Arts Center in 2018, and was screened nationally throughout 2019), Brian Rogers continues his habit of interdisciplinary makeovers with Small Songs, a long form recording of textural synthesizer music.

In late 2019, while at an artist residency, Brian Rogers assembled more than 100 hours of audio material, recorded solo, generally late at night, via modular synthesizer. Throughout 2020 and 2021, these recordings were meticulously (and exhaustively) condensed and sequenced into twenty nine very short compositions (or “small songs”), which unfold as a kind of abstract, auditory, autofictional narrative of shifting interior states, informed by a month-long cross country road trip Rogers undertook, solo, in 2021. Writer and cultural critic Claudia La Rocco composed the song titles in the form of a 29 line poem; the recordings were mastered by Stephan Mathieu; and the album was pressed in a very limited edition of vinyl LP’s which, due to a global vinyl shortage, only recently arrived.

For the public launch of Small Songs, Rogers and longtime collaborator Madeline Best will transform The Chocolate Factory into a multisensory listening environment centered around a custom designed and constructed hi fi speaker system and an array of LED light strips, surrounded by a series of intimate “salons” filled with sofas, carpets and comfortable chairs. Cocktails and natural wine will be served; and the album will be played, its contours amplified by, and reflected within, the Chocolate Factory’s industrial architecture and a stark, subtly advancing lighting score.

Small Songs (the album) is composed, recorded and mixed by Brian Rogers; mastered by Stephan Mathieu; and features song titles by Claudia La Rocco, and cover art by Michael Reardon.

Small Songs (the listening event) features music and co-direction by Brian Rogers; and co-direction and Lighting Design by Madeline Best. Sound Engineer and Audiovisual Technologist: Mike Rugnetta. Object Design and Construction: Matt Shalzi. Poem performance by Claudia La Rocco. Sofa Whisperer: Joanna Levinger.