The world gets inside of John Gibson’s electronic compositions, one way or another. Whether it’s the scrape of a kitchen knife or the cacophony of a street scene, he brings everyday sounds into his musical orbit. On his new release, Traces, the pieces range from minimal to maximal, combining live instruments with pre-recorded soundtracks and improvised responses from the computer. “Thrum” and “Slumber” take notes played on familiar acoustic instruments and assemble them into hypnotic grooves and atmospheric textures. “Day Trip” draws on heavily processed soundscape recordings from New York’s Chinatown, and “Driptick” orchestrates the clash of incompatible speeds projected by the sounds of dripping faucets and ticking clocks. For the rest of the album, pianist Kati Gleiser, cellist Craig Hultgren, and brass duo Brett Shuster and Michael Tunnell join Gibson in studio recordings of pieces they commissioned. Gibson’s compositions have received performances by the London Sinfonietta, the Da Capo Chamber Players, the Seattle Symphony, Speculum Musicae, and at numerous festivals, including Bourges Synthese, Seoul International Computer Music, Brazilian Symposium on Computer Music, and more. He teaches composition for electronic media at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.