Biography

Joseph Franklin is a composer, bassist and bandleader working at the intersection of improvised, composed and experimental music. As a performer/improviser, he works with both the electric and upright bass in various ensembles including his own group FRANKLIN, which performs as a trio, quartet and quintet.

Rites, the debut album by FRANKLIN was released in 2018 and was a collaboration with Ollie McGill on piano and features Jamie Oehlers on sax, and Dave Beck on drums. In 2019, he released the follow up album, AMEN through Earshift Music with performances in New York, Sydney and Melbourne. The album features Marc Hannaford on piano/electronics and Satoshi Takeishi on drums/percussion.

As a composer, he has written acoustic and electronic music for configurations ranging from solo to chamber orchestra. His work has been performed by Ensemble Nouveau, The Music Box Project, The Australian Youth Orchestra with an upcoming premiere by the Flinders Quartet in June 2019. He has also written music for film, including the recent feature, Beyond The Noise.

He has performed across Australia, Europe and Turkey and is a former member of indie-rock band Dukes Of Windsor. In 2016, he founded music composition and production studio Onic. He is currently developing solo musical language for the semi-hollow bass guitar.

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Composer website: http://www.josephfranklin.net

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Featured Works

The String Quartet , for violin, violin, viola, cello.

The String Quartet Project is the beginning of a journey that will never be entirely completed. I will continue to add new movements to the piece ad infinitum, or more crudely, until I die. This suite of music will grow and grow, each movement informing the next, a link in the chain. The compositional approach of subsequent movements will be informed by the ensembles who perform it, each string quartet leaving their mark on the work as a whole.

– Joseph Franklin

Featured in Evolving Waves– November 2019