I am a composer whose work is driven by a search for a universal communication protocol, one that could be recognized as meaningful by an intelligence that does not share human language, culture, biology, or environment. I approach this problem as a music theorist, applying musical structure as both an analytical framework and a design language. My thinking is shaped by the scientific paradigms of SETI and METI, including the Drake Equation and information theory, which together frame communication as a question of detectable structure, statistical non‑randomness, and longevity across distance. Central to this investigation is my study of humpback whale song, the most complex and dynamically evolving vocal system known in the non‑human world. By analyzing its hierarchical organization, repetition, redundancy, and patterned transformation, I treat whales as an “alien analog”, a living proxy that allows me to test how structured signals maintain coherence over vast distances and amid perceptual uncertainty. Through this lens, music is not only an art form but a candidate architecture for interspecies and potentially interstellar communication.
My background sits at the convergence of musical composition and scientific collaboration. I am the producer of an eight‑part miniseries Whales & Aliens: The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence in the Salish Sea, a project that brought together astrophysics, astrobiology and cetacean research, and creator of Beyond Human: Songs for Other Species, an album that explores music as a communicative act not only for humans but for non‑human listeners. In parallel, I have participated in multiple scientific expeditions, including the landmark “Twain” interaction, a documented conversational exchange between humans and a humpback whale that reshaped how intentionality and turn‑taking can be recognized across species. Together, these experiences inform my long‑standing inquiry into how humpback whales function as Earth’s closest analogue to extraterrestrial intelligence, and how musical structure might serve as a bridge between whales, humans, and the search for life beyond our planet.