Gnossiennes 1–6 by Erik Satie
Interpreted by Aleatory Music Systems (AMS)

It was an honour and delight to be asked to contribute artwork for this truly moving and beautiful album by @aleatorymusicsystems
Thank you!

Please headover to Bandcamp to hear more:
https://aleatorymusicsystems.bandcamp.com/album/broken

The Gnossiennes are among Erik Satie’s most enigmatic and inward-facing works, unbound by traditional time signatures, untethered from conventional structure.

They drift, hover, collapse and reform like thoughts breaking apart mid-sentence. In BROKEN, Robert Baldock (AMS) offers a deconstructed, deeply personal reimagining of these six pieces, not as static compositions, but as fragile architectures haunted by memory, interruption, and reassembly.

At the heart of this work lies a visceral encounter with thrombectomy, a life-saving procedure to remove a blood clot from the brain. The experience left Baldock confronting acute aphasia, where language itself is fractured – thoughts are intact, but expression is broken; like sentences shattered before they reach the surface.

In BROKEN, the Gnossiennes become a mirror to this journey:
Random breakdowns echo the arbitrary ruptures of stroke.
Fragmented phrasing channels the disorientation of re-learning new methods of communication and physical movement.
Vacillating, hesitant and wavering, shifts reflect the unsettling unpredictability of recovery, healing and the acceptance of change.

Baldock doesn’t offer resolution. Instead, he holds space for uncertainty— exploring the parallels between music that resists order and a mind rebuilding itself from within.

Released June 30, 2025

Credits:
Composer: Erik Satie
Artwork: @sharonquigley23
Cover design: @mrandyfielding