“An astonishing demonstration of pure sound and human will.” - Phil Freeman, The Wire
”That’s some frankenstein shit.” - Roscoe Mitchell
“The sonic equivalent of microscopic life viewed on a slide” - Steve Smith, The New Yorker
Grime punk haven Carbondale, lllinois native John McCowen got his musical start in the middle aughts doing vocals for hardcore bands in local basements. Tired of the toll that took on his throat, he eventually picked up a saxophone, and applying it where he could landed him a gig with his high school friends Ashton and Caleb Bird in their stoner rock band Tweak Bird. After several years doing saxes and flutes for Tweak Bird (which culminated in a 2 month tour opening for TOOL in 2009) McCowen returned home to pursue Bb soprano, bass and contrabass clarinet studies with Eric P. Mandat at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.
John McCowen is a composer/performer originally from Southern Illinois. His work focuses on extending the possibilities of the clarinet. John embraces long-form drones, difference tones, and beating harmonics as a means to extrude the dimensions within. His work has been described by The New Yorker as “the sonic equivalent of microscopic life viewed on a slide”. His music has been released on Edition Wandelweiser, International Anthem, Astral Spirits, Cairn Desk, and others. Performances include ISSUE Project Room, Norður og Niður Festival(Reykjavik), B10(Shenzen), Berkeley Art Museum(BAMPFA), Ende Tymes Festival, National Sawdust, The Lab, and Roulette Intermedium. John was a 2017 & 2019 artist-in-residence at Lijiang Studio in Yunnan, China, and also the 2020 artist-in-residence at ISSUE Project Room in Brooklyn. He received the Elizabeth Mills Crothers Award for excellence in music composition in 2016 from Mills College where he received an MA in Music Composition under Roscoe Mitchell. John has performed with Roscoe Mitchell, TOOL, Theresa Wong, Leila Bordreuil, Sean Meehan, Tongue Depressor, Randall Dunn, Lester St. Louis, Ned Rothenberg, Bergrun Snæbjornsdottir, Luke Stewart, Lao Dan, and others. He currently resides in Reykjavik, Iceland where he is a guest artist at the Iceland University of the Arts.
John remains stubbornly dedicated to acoustic phenomena. His works do not utilize amplifier feedback or electronically-generated sounds unless specified.
