Lessina Levlin Levlite Levora
Josh Modney (violin and voice) and Sky Macklay (electronics)
This is a live recording from October 22nd, 2016 at Spectrum in NYC
The text of Lessina, Levlin, Levlite, Levora for speaking male violinist and ring modulation is comprised of the names of contraceptive drugs and devices, advertisements for the contraceptives, and personal testimonies by internet reviewers about their experiences with particular contraceptives. The piece is not a single narrative but rather a barrage of similar and intertwined narratives inspired by my own experience with the contraception segment of the pharmaceutical industry. I struggled to renew my birth control prescription after moving and when I had no health insurance. I experienced severe side effects such as hemiplegic migraines. I went through the trials of switching methods, the uncertainty of not knowing how my body would react, and the inability to fully communicate the physical and emotional strain of this complex and extremely common ordeal to my male partner. With this piece, I create a framework for the male performer (and through him, male audience members) to more deeply empathize with women’s pregnancy-prevention struggles by verbalizing and therefore embodying the names, the side effects, the testimonies. Hearing both the burdens that inevitably fall on the shoulders of women and the disembodied voices of the pharmaceutical industry vocalized and musically heightened by a male voice and processed with ring modulation creates a surreal sonic simulacrum of the gauntlet women face when trying to prevent pregnancy.