Oblique Curiosities are David Ben Shannon and Sarah E. Truman. We’re old friends and have written songs together since 2011. Often, the impetus of these songs emerge from a series of texts to each other about a personal (or world) event, a concept we’re trying to think through, or as we run after a train, plane, or bus we’re about to miss (it happens more than you’d think). Our (agreed upon) music influences include Fever Ray, Joe Hisaishi, Brian Eno, Kishi Bashi, Kate Bush, Tunng, Everything Everything, and the Mos Eisley Cantina Band. We’re both academics. Our collaborative research interests include music making, affect theory, queer theory, Doctor Who (and other SF), critical pedagogies, and research-creation. Sometimes we write scholarly articles about our compositions.

Credit: Sophie Rudolph, 2023.