Connecting Two Avant Gardes

Nico Muhly is not your standard issue composer. The New Yorker gained notoriety for helping Icelandic pop star Björk realize some of her unconventional musical ideas, and the experience seems to have informed his entire compositional style. “Muhly moves readily between the classical avant-garde and indie-pop worlds, interacting with the likes of Laurie Anderson and Grizzly Bear. He swoons not just to a Benjamin Britten passacaglia, but also to Final Fantasy. The distinction in his mind comes not so much from the music, but the scenes surrounding each.”