Nowhere near the Centre of Anything was composed for Ensemble Modelo62, and takes its inspiration from imagining a “super” delay/looping pedal, with the ensemble itself functioning as this device. The piece builds on the construction and deconstruction of a long looping melody, fragmented into overlapping hockets that form independent lines before converging into the larger whole. As the climax approaches, the melody is increasingly compressed, accelerating the music. After the peak it contracts even further, breaking into ever more intense but sparser bursts, while harp and vibraphone continue undulating in the background with the remnants of the process. Almost every element—the modes, developmental processes, and large-scale form—derives from a particular ordering of Fibonacci numbers.

The title comes from a text fragment I once found in the 2006 novel “The End of Mr. Y” by British author Scarlett Thomas.