Will Malaby has spent the better part of the past two years in his jam-packed, poster-covered room, hunched over a Macintosh G5 computer. Set amid several guitars, a keyboard, a drum set and even a sitar he got last Christmas, he’s been composing and recording a full-length album, which he finally finished this summer. It’s called “Circus of a Mind at Large,” and it’s composed of 26 jazz-tinged, electro-classical compositions that the Hancock teenager has crafted using the latest music software.

From a very young age, Malaby has been musically inclined. From banging on the lids of cans as a toddler, he graduated to real drums when his parents, Richard and Elizabeth, gave him a set.

“I definitely couldn’t play drums at 2 a.m.,” he said. “I needed something to practice at night. My brother broke his pinky finger playing basketball, so I started playing his guitar, since he couldn’t use it.”

Music has since consumed his life. He’s taught himself guitar, piano, and yes, even some sitar. He’s learned how to record, starting out with an old cassette recorder and ending up with a high tech, superfast computer.

“People don’t tend to take electronic music seriously, but I think it’s very exciting,” said Malaby. “I have access to an entire orchestra right in my computer. I don’t really have technical training. I’ve taught myself, and that enables me to compose things I couldn’t otherwise compose.”

“Circus” features some traditionally electronic elements – especially the skittering programmed drums, which bring to mind experimental electronic composers like Aphex Twin. He also checks jazz pianists such as Matthew Shipp and Brad Mehldau as influences, as well as some more unorthodox things.

“1930s-era old-timey cartoons, like old Walt Disney cartoons, that featured old jazz like Duke Ellington, I love that,” the 18-year-old says. “That’s what I really grew up on, the classical and jazz in old cartoons. And because of that there’s a strong visual element in my music as well.”

Ideally, Malaby would like to someday compose scores for films or cartoons, in addition to recording his own stuff.

“Being able to convey the way you feel through some abstract means like music is rewarding,” he says. “It’s always been my dream to record an album.”

“Circus of a Mind at Large” is for

sale at Bull Moose Music stores, and at

The Grasshopper Shop in Ellsworth

and Searsport, as well as online at www.cdbaby.com. Will Malaby will be featured on the show Databass on WERU 89.9 FM at 10 tonight;

listen online at www.weru.org.