Ex-Fiancée is a solo project that wasn't quite solo—for a time. Brooklyn-based composer/multi-instrumentalist/fag-of-all-trades Sven Britt makes (made?) music under direction of long-time collaborator (and husband, though, now—the project's name proved to be premonition—ex-husband), director and choreographer Chris Masters.

Orchestrated with reverence for each of the myriad topics investigated, Masters generatively nurtures Britt’s voice—physically & metaphorically—to unearth previously dormant dimensions of their creative capacities. Now awoken, these talents create the conditions that enable the discovery of revelatory perspectives, which nourish and cultivate lush, novel landscapes which form the foundation on which such interrogative work—faithfully devoted to intentionality, craft, and accessibility—can truly flourish.

Employing the same tactics used to make his acclaimed contemporary dance work—carefully constructed series of task-based processes, carving paths which guarantee each step is invariably imbued with intentionality—Masters sharpens and focuses Britt’s prowess and attention toward crafting compositions as interrogations that clearly examine each subject with intention and purpose present in every element of creation, from precipice to product.

The debut album, A Feast That Never Comes, is an investigation of technology’s effects on our: understanding of self and others; (mis)communication; mental health; online outrage; addiction; public vs private presentation; digital immortality; inertia; surveillance capitalism; mental health crises; the right to be forgotten; AI’s proliferation’s  its consequences; and cycles of abuse.

In order to arrive at work addressing such fraught subject matters, precipice is treated as king—culminating in research-based tactics, erasures of academic articles, one-take exercises after extensive immersion into wide-ranging, expansive topics and themes.

The gulf between intention and consequence is massive, but while some see it as a hindrance, we see it as an endlessly generative wellspring of processes that invite myriad and disparate responses—so, rather than crawling and clawing our way toward the impossible goal of clarity and control, we encourage that gulf to become an ocean.

This is not a declaration, but rather, an interrogation. You are encouraged to embrace your unique history and perspective to ask your own questions, and provide your own answers. The work remains fundamentally unfinished without you.


To have and to hold, despite the explosion—but only one side of the story is erosion.


So, the result? A process-focused album following four characters (Kate, Michael, Sarah, and Daniel) structured to invite the listener to draw their own conclusions about the characters’ identities and relationships, as well as how listeners’ own lived experiences may relate to the content of the album.

Much like a seven-layer dip, or nesting dolls, the work invites you to choose how deep you want to dive. The songs can stand alone, or when songs don’t name characters, you can decide who is singing to whom. The dance film (four music videos) present a rich tapestry of imagery and storytelling, utilizing Masters’s unique movement tactics to realize the characters. Meanwhile, the visual album realizes the solitude and isolation that is inextricably linked to the generative process.

While you may discover musical, lyrical, and visual motifs creating recursive loop throughout the project, these repetitions may be taken at most as clues to intent. But from there, you’re on your own. The only intent that prevails in A Feast That Never Comes is that of openness and investigation.

There are always more levels to unpack, but the album is never framed as a puzzle to be solved. All levels of engagement are equally valid. We provide many varied entry points, but no explicit directive or guidance.

You’re going to have find your own way. I wish you way more than luck.


But what are you trying to say? All I’m hearing are zeros and ones.


Sven Britt has played, produced, and toured professionally with Stranger Cat (Joyful Noise Recordings (Son Lux, Kishi Bashi, of Montreal)), a duo with Cat Martino (The Shins, Sufjan Stevens, Sharon van Etten), playing at Bonnaroo, as well as opening for Son Lux, Patrick Watson, Sebadoh, Natalie Prass, Night Beds, Indians, Emmy the Great, Yoni Wolf, Serengeti, Reptar, Surfer Blood, and Porches.
Most recently, Sven has focused on immersive theatre and dance, which has been presented at Brooklyn Academy of Music, La MaMa Moves!, Danspace Project, Triskelion Arts (NYC), Fengchao Theatre (Beijing), eXit SPACE | NOD Theatre (Seattle), University of Iowa, University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point, University of Hawaii at Manoa, University of Central Florida, and The Iron Factory (Philadelphia). He has accompanied dance classes at Peridance Capezio Center, Mark Morris Dance Center, Gibney Dance Center, and University of Iowa.
Sven is honored to be awarded as a grantee of Brooklyn Arts Council, The Puffin Foundation, The Charles & Joan Gross Family Foundation, the Selinger Memorial Fund for the Arts, and the Tarkovsky Grant—the latter for Ex-Fiancée’s dance film A Feast That Never Comes, which has received 700+ film festival selections, winning 100+ Best Music Video awards.


It's easy to imagine your story, but there's no way I'm gonna get it right.


Directed by Chris Masters. Written, composed, recorded, produced, and mixed by Ex-Fiancée in Brooklyn, NY and Detroit, MI. Mastered by Joe LaPorta at Sterling Sound.