Bit Pieces by James McIlwrath

Few sensations feel more uncomfortable than being misunderstood, when your words leave your mouth and contort and reshape themselves in someone else’s mind. To explore this process, Irish experimental artist James McIlwrath released their new project Bit Pieces, a speech-based record that explores various reshapings of common phrases. The writing process consisted of a breakdown of each phrase into small pieces, which James refers to as “bits,” which were then rearranged according to a mathematical algorithm. As an end result, these typically straightforward words become these abstract masses that convey more of a feeling than an actual concrete meaning. Musically, the record stays minimal, employing sparse stringed instruments and the occasional synth to highlight the sung vocals that follow unusual tunes, or occasionally follow no tune at all. As we explore the ways in which we add our own mental fingerprint onto the words we hear from other people, we gain empathy for those we misinterpret, slowly coming around to the unfortunate fact that we will never escape the limits of our own perception.