Ex-Fiancée is a solo project that is not quite a solo project. Brooklyn-based composer/multi-instrumentalist Sven Britt makes music under the direction of long-time collaborator (and husband), choreographer Chris Masters. Employing the same tactics used to make his acclaimed contemporary dance work, Masters focuses Britt’s talents to interrogate myriad issues based on the conceptual precipice of each project. The debut album, A Feast That Never Comes, is an investigation of technology’s effects on our understanding of self and others, communication, mental health, digital outrage, public vs. private presentation, and cycles of abuse.

In order to arrive at a work that addresses such fraught subject matters, the precipice is treated as king, culminating in research-based tactics such as erasures of academic articles and one-take exercises after extensive immersion into wide-ranging subject matter. The result is a process-focused album about four characters (Kate, Michael, Sarah, and Daniel) structured to invite the listener to draw their own conclusions about the characters’ identities and relationships, as well as how listeners’ own lived experiences may relate to the content of the album.

Much like a seven-layer dip, or nesting dolls, the work invites you to choose how deep you want to dive. The songs can stand alone, or when songs don’t name characters, you can decide who is singing to whom. The four music videos present a rich tapestry of imagery and storytelling, utilizing Masters’s unique movement tactics to realize the characters. Meanwhile, musical and lyrical motifs form a recursive loop throughout the album. There are always more levels to unpack, but the album is never framed as a puzzle to be solved. All levels of engagement are equally valid. We provide many varied entry points, but you’re going to have find your own way.

The gulf between intention and consequence is massive, but while some see it as a hindrance, we see it as an endlessly generative wellspring of processes that invite myriad and disparate responses—so, rather than crawling and clawing our way toward the impossible goal of clarity and control, we encourage that gulf to become an ocean. This is not a declaration, but rather, an interrogation.

The musical, lyrical, and visual motifs that repeat throughout the project may be taken as clues to intent. But from there, you’re on your own. The only intent that prevails in A Feast That Never Comes is that of openness and investigation. You are encouraged to embrace your unique history and perspective to ask your own questions, and provide your own answers. The work remains fundamentally unfinished without you.

But what are you trying to say? All I’m hearing are zeros and ones.

Sven Britt has played, produced, and toured professionally with Stranger Cat (Joyful Noise Recordings (Son Lux, Kishi Bashi, of Montreal)), a duo with Cat Martino (The Shins, Sufjan Stevens, Sharon van Etten), playing at Bonnaroo, as well as opening for Son Lux, Patrick Watson, Sebadoh, Natalie Prass, Night Beds, Indians, Emmy the Great, Yoni Wolf, Serengeti, Reptar, Surfer Blood, and Porches. Most recently, Sven has focused on immersive theatre and dance, which has been presented at Brooklyn Academy of Music, La MaMa Moves!, Danspace Project, Triskelion Arts (NYC), Fengchao Theatre (Beijing), eXit SPACE | NOD Theatre (Seattle), University of Iowa, University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point, University of Hawaii at Manoa, University of Central Florida, and The Iron Factory (Philadelphia). He has accompanied dance classes at Peridance Capezio Center, Mark Morris Dance Center, Gibney Dance Center, and University of Iowa.

It's easy to imagine your story, but there's no way I'm gonna get it right.

Directed by Chris Masters. Written, composed, recorded, produced, and mixed by Ex-Fiancée in Brooklyn, NY and Detroit, MI. Mastered by Joe LaPorta at Sterling Sound.