If I could find you now, things would get better
We could leave this town and run forever
I know somewhere, somehow, we'll be together
Let your waves crash down on me and take me away, yeah

​

- Yellowcard, 'Ocean Avenue'

​

Inspired by the tinted nostalgia of Life is Strange, Stand By Me, Bruce Springsteen, and Stranger Things — String Quartet, No. 3: JOYRIDE is a coming-of-age short film distilled into the shape of a string quartet.

​

JOYRIDE is a piece about a lot of things. It’s a piece that’s kind of about road trips, kind of about wanderlust, kind of about looking back at those fleeting moments where for one night, one hour, one moment, everything simply felt right.

​

It’s a piece that’s kind of about queer romance, kind of about self-discovery, kind of about learning to love yourself through loving someone else, kind of about this girl I went stargazing with in Otley in 2015 who I never saw again, kind of about falling for a performance artist I met in Barcelona, kind of about growing up while simultaneously never wanting to grow up.

​

Most importantly, it’s a piece about joy as a radical action: as an act of being, doing, as liberation. It’s about finding those places where we can create joyous moments, joyous experiences, joyous spaces — for ourselves, for each other, for our communities. It’s about sponaneity, togetherness, and collective experiences.

​

I’m not sure, amongst all the horrors of the world in 2025, how we can truly make the world a better place; but maybe a good place to start is making the spaces we inhabit more joyous spaces to exist. I think JOYRIDE is about this, too.

​​

​

​

String Quartet, No. 3: JOYRIDE was composed in summer 2025, and commissioned by the Jasmine Quartet as part of their 2025-26 season. Thank you so much to Mira, Amber, Becca, and Ezra for all of your wonderful support in bringing this piece to life; it means the world.


​

The piece is split into the following movements:

​

I. Highways

II. Hurdles

III. Night

IV. Homecoming