Jonathan Badger

Jonathan Badger is a guitarist, composer, and video artist. He studied composition with Stephen Jaffe, Scott Lindroth, and John Harbison at Duke University; he also studied Guitar Craft, a tradition founded and guided by Robert Fripp of King Crimson. Badger’s work ranges from postrock sludge to neobaroque chamber music, and includes compositions for solo piano, string quartet, and vocal ensembles. In his live solo performances his compositions and improvisations are rendered using a variety of electronic implements while maintaining the character of solo guitar.

Badger’s first two studio records, Metasonic (High Horse, 2006) and Unsung Stories from Lily’s Days as a Solar Astronaut (MT6, 2010), are collections of instrumental ambient rock compositions. The third, Verse (Cuneiform Records, 2014), is a more ambitious collaborative effort that moves through electronic textures and modernist classical structures.

From 2009 to 2018, Badger shepherded an electroacoustic project called ​Antler​. This amorphous collective ranges in style from lurid Americana to atonal chamber music and has produced three albums on Badger’s own imprint, High Horse Productions — A History of Freefall (2015), Delta Ex (2016), and Inkling (2018).

In recent years Badger has performed and recorded with ​Lake Mallory​ (2016-17) and the post-rock duo ​All the Clouds Turn to Words ​(2019-the present). Currently, his primary focus is on compositions for small ensembles.

Badger also holds a Ph.D. in Political Philosophy from Fordham University, and is the author of books and essays on topics ranging from Greek tragic poetry to American political culture. He teaches at St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland.