Today I’m so incredibly honored, thankful and thrilled to announce the release of The Positive Reinforcement Campaign on Motvind Records and to present our new band:
Wrong Norma.
On this record, I teamed up with percussion trio Pinquins (Sigrun Rogstad Gomnæs, Ane Marthe Sørlien Holen, and Jennifer Torrence) and bassist/composer Inga Margrete Aas to create an experimental song cycle of Murder Ballads.
The Positive Reinforcement Campaign weaves together improvised experimental soundscapes, traditional American Sacred Harp hymns, and folk ballads as we sing the tales of precious entities, be they human or environmental, which are subjected to the brutality of contempt, greed, jealousy, violence, and utter disregard.
Through improvisation, experimentation and group singing “The Positive Reinforcement Campaign” has banded together to stretch out and fill up the containers of these traditional songs - populating them with their own sonic languages and reflecting on the horrific stories of now. These re-imagined songs ask the five instrumentalists to sing in tightly bound harmonies (a musical and performative display of female solidarity). The Positive Reinforcement Campaign is one part experimental folk, one part Appalachian motet, and one part glitching, noisy, fluttering, drone.
It uses the language of folk music traditions to witness and retell our current reality through a feminist lens.
I hope you’ll check out this first musical offering and please stay tuned! - You can hear brand new music from our newly named band Wrong Norma in November at the Minu Festival DK -(and yes… it is an Anne Carson reference!)
The Positive Reinforcement Campaign:
Jessie Marino: composition/song arrangement, fiddle, voice, electronics
Inga Margrete Aas: double bass, voice
Pinquins:
Sigrun Rogstad Gomnæs: percussion, voice
Ane Marthe Sørlien Holen: percussion, synthesizer, voice
Jennifer Torrence: percussion, voice
with:
Emilia Dorr: voice
Weston Olencki: trombone
Wendy Eisenberg: guitar
Recorded by Magnus Skavhaug Nergaard at Flerbruket Studios, Norway.
Mixed + Mastered by Weston Olencki
Photos:
Oliver Matlock, Heinz Bunse,
John Andrew Wilhite, Jørgen Gomnæs
Lucy Humphris (@le_humph ) and Jennifer Torrence (@jetorrence ) perform at Cafe OTO on Friday 20th March. The programming within each set is artist-led: repertoire is only announced on the night (though we will definitely hear Lucy perform a new commission by Nneka Cummins (@nnekacummins )!
Link in bio as always 🔗
#newmusic #trumpet #percussion #lucyhumphris #jennifertorrence
Photos by Chelsey Browne and Julianne Schultze
eavesdropping conversation 47: Jennifer Torrence
Host Juliet Fraser talks to Jennifer Torrence about "etc." as a window of possibility, being happy in the creative fog and memories of Enya blasting in the bathroom.
References: Enya, Cats (the musical), Garth Brooks, Madonna, Paula Abdul, Boyz II Men on tape, composer Francois Sarhan (and Juliet mentions composers Kristine Tjøgersen, Clara Iannotta, Jessie Marino), the Berlin Philharmonic (hearing Daniel Barenboim conducting Beethoven's 7th Symphony and Vasily Petrenko conducting Stravinsky's Petrushka), bell hooks, and Inga Margrete Aas.
Recommended listening: youtu.be/LKQIjP7tzKs
Jen will perform in the eavesdropping festival at Cafe OTO on Friday 20 March 2026: www.eavesdropping.london/activity/2026/
Impressions from 𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝗝𝗲𝗻 𝗧𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 by 𝐊𝐚𝐫𝐢 𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐬𝐨𝐧.
Photos by @carolinebittencourtfotografi
𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐔_𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘭_𝘧𝘰𝘳_𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥_𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤 | 26-30/11 Copenhagen | full program at
Impressions from 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗩𝗶𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 composed by 𝗥𝗼𝗯 𝗗𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻 and performed by 𝗝𝗲𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗳𝗲𝗿 𝗧𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 for the opening of MINU 2025.
Photos by @carolinebittencourtfotografi
𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐔_𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘭_𝘧𝘰𝘳_𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥_𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤 | 26-30/11 Copenhagen | full program at
Auditions are coming up for percussion studies at the Norwegian Academy of Music. Here are a few of us hoping you or your students will consider applying😊
bachelor, masters, exchange, artist diploma.
Deadline December 15.
@musikkhogskolen@nmhperc
𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝗝𝗲𝗻 𝗧𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲
States of overload, fragmentation, and sonic excess—demonstrating the impossibility of the human body becoming fully mechanized.
Composed by Kari Watson - performed by Jennifer Torrence - as part of 𝗜𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗥𝘂𝗽𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀 on the 27/11.
𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐔_𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘭_𝘧𝘰𝘳_𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥_𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤 | 26-30/11 Copenhagen |
