MaerzMusik 2025: Minor Characters

Jennifer Walshe and Matthew Shlomowitz describe “Minor Characters” as “a song cycle for the 21st century”, a musical and theatrical exploration of how the internet mediates reality, inviting audiences to notice often-overlooked details, much like observing minutiae in nature.

Although the story intentionally eschews the idea of a central figure, Dublin native Walshe takes the lead as performer and vocalist: her practice reveals a wide range of inflections, incorporating extended technique experimentalism, free improvisation and composed elements – here backed by Swiss Ensemble Nikel on drums, electric guitar, keyboard and saxophone. The music of Australian London-based composer Shlomowitz traverses a variety of styles – from rock to vaporwave, cabaret, and even ASMR influences – reflecting a collage-like representation of digital life, as unpredictable as scrolling through the algorithmically curated chaos of the feed.

As the title “Minor Characters” suggests, the work draws inspiration from the mundane, often humorous figures who populate online spaces but never quite achieve top-level status. The text – curated from social media snippets, conspiracy theories and digital detritus – captures the quirks of internet subcultures and modern life’s absurdities, reflected in song titles such as “Your Uncle is Into the Crypto Now”. In other words: The piece is a critical observation on religion, gender, sex, politics and the hierarchical elements that distort them all. In Walshe’s words: “And yet here we are seven years on, still flailing, ties fraying, adrift in the wash of users, in the waves of loved ones lost to doing their own research, bobbing amidst the debris looking for a raft to cling.”