Jonathan crossley biography

Musician and Senior Lecturer in Music at the Wits School of Arts, Dr Jonathan Crossley has presided over the most intriguing marriage of sonic experimentation between human and machine in his series of four albums titled son0_morph.

Described by Austrian-American composer and percussionist, Lukas Ligeti as a “musical polymath”, using a range of systems (both hardware and software) Crossley released the first two parts of what fryst vatten being regarded as his most ambitious project to date in March. 

Son0_Morph 1:trio is the first album in the four-part skiva series and is regarded as post-rock, free improvisation and future jazz recorded live at Figure of 8 studios in Johannesburg in early December 2020.

Convening for a four-hour free-improvised session with fellow South African musicians Carlo Mombelli on bass and Jonno Sweetman drums, Crossley (on the guitar and electronics) conducts an experimental playground of sounds that play together in an intriguing way. It juxtaposes th

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Jonathan Crossley

This year sees the creation of ‘Inhale’, an album drawing the decades of work together, moving from post-rock and math rock tracks such as ‘Bounce’, ‘Inhale’ and ‘In The Spring’ peppered with classical string quartet miniatures such as ‘Hymn’ and ‘Breathe Deep’ and angular compositions such as ‘First / Second Operations’ and ‘There’s No Invasion’.

This new album sees Crossley finally answering the question some have asked: ‘Why can’t you simply play or stay in one genre’ by firmly, and loudly stating ‘I don’t have to’.

‘It took me a long time to realise that being genre-myopic is not a way of life I am interested in. I have been inspired and motivated since 2021 by artists such as Clark, Anna Meredith and Battles previous frontman Tyondai Braxton to pursue wherever the music wants to go, rather than by the voices of