About

Dabney Morris is a composer, arranger, and multi-instrumentalist based in Los Angeles, whose work resonates with the profound depths of human emotion and the vastness of the cosmos. A figure lost in the labyrinth of sound, a composer whose work strikes with the force of a thunderstorm, leaving in its wake a sense of both awe and terror. Born into the indifferent expanse of time, Morris's music is a testimony to the fragile human condition, threading melodies with the precision of a surgeon's scalpel and the heart of a despairing poet. His compositions are not mere arrangements of notes but are visceral explorations of the unknown, an attempt to communicate with the vast, indifferent universe that watches us as we stumble through life.

In a world increasingly entranced by the digital and the ephemeral, Morris, with unrelenting resolve, embraces the curious and peculiar side of music—a place where dissonance and harmony do not coexist peacefully but rather wrestle with each other, reflecting the eternal conflict within ourselves. The listener is caught between the raw, primal chaos and moments of fleeting, ethereal beauty that might momentarily restore some sense of meaning to this brutal, existential journey.

To listen to his composition is to confront the void, to stare into the abyss that lies at the heart of all creativity. One cannot hear his music without feeling the tremors of an ancient, inevitable truth: that our existence is fragile, but music, like a force of nature, persists. The composer is an observer and an instigator—perhaps even a catalyst—of the relentless passage of time.

His films include the Oscar short-listed documentary PROCESSION, Sundance 2023’s opening night premiere film, SOMETIMES I THINK ABOUT DYING; Deauville Film Festival Critics’ Prize winner, COLOR BOOK; the unreleased cult classic, I CAN FEEL YOU WALKING; and Alex Ross Perry's PAVEMENTS, a documentary about the world's most important band.

As a concert composer, his chamber works have been performed by the Alias Chamber Ensemble and Lockeland Strings. Dabney is co-founder of Chamber House, a series of modern chamber music concerts hosted in intimate venues in Los Angeles.

(banner portrait by Zachary Gray)

Contact

REPRESENTATION
Natalie Baartz | ScoreBird
scorebird@gmail.com

GET IN TOUCH
dabney.morris@gmail.com