First concert in a new series curated by Stephen O'Malley of SUNN O))) extending the work he's undertaken with his Ideologic Organ label for Editions Mego.
The first event is a double bill of duos. An exceedingly rare appearance from Andrew Chalk - here as Elodie, his duo with Timo Van Luijk and Vocal/Violin duo Jessika Kenney and Eyvind Kang, both collaborators on SUNN O)))'s Monolith's & Dimensions and responsible for the second LP on the label: 'Aestaurium'
Andrew Chalk has been active in music since the mid eighties. One of the great English musical hermetics, his distinctive mix of environmental recordings and textural collage creates a dream-like mood of disarming simplicity that reveals layers of patient detail on close listening.
Chalk is also a serial collaborator (often by post). As a member of David Jackman's Organum, he contributed to the Submission LP on NWW's United Dairies label and had his own early experiments in layered electronic sounds and environmental noise (as Ferial Confine) issued on cassette by legendary London noise label Broken Flag. He has also worked with Vortex Campaign, The New Blockaders, Darren Tate (in Ora), Giancarlo Toniutti, Jonathan Coleclough, and Christoph Heemann (in Mirror).
His early output under his own name was sporadic, However, the last few years have witnessed a surge in activity with a number of editions appearing on his own label: Faraway Press, as well as Christoph Heemann's Streamline.
This will be a rare opportunity to see Andrew in person. For this appearance he will be joined by Timo Van Luijk for a performance as their duo Elodie.
TIMO VAN LUIJK
Originally from Finland but now resident in Belgium, Timo van Luijk is an autodidact sound artist/composing improviser working with acoustic instruments (strings, wind, percussion) and various (sound) objects.
He started his musical excursions with some obscure local projects in the mid 80's and following sound studies/research he formed the experimental music/multimedia collective Noise-Maker's Fifes together with Geert Feytons in 1989. Simultaneously he slowly developed his personal musical activities as Af Ursin with regular releases since 1996.
Apart from his solo work he has done frequent collaborations with Christoph Heemann (In Camera) and Limpe Fuchs, Kris Vanderstraeten, Raymond Dijkstra (Asra), Andrew Chalk (Elodie), Frederik Croene and is member of the group Onde together with Greg Jacobs and Marc Wroblewski (both from Noise Maker's Fifes).
"In what might be the greatest international drone summit to date Andrew Chalk and Timo Van Luijk, two of the most forward-thinking slow-motion instrumentalists, have launched a new group project, Elodie, that features guest appearances from both Daisuke Suzuki and Ian Middleton. Chalk and Van Luijk have a long history together, both at one point playing as members of Mirror. With Elodie their focus is on combining landscape soundings and hazily rendered arcs of melody with actual small instrumentation, strings, music boxes, acoustic guitars etc... Parts of this come across as the most pastoral songwriter side that Andrew has ever been involved in and it’s all the more bewitching for it." - Volcanic Tongue
JESSIKA KENNEY & EYVIND KANG
Duo performance from Jessika Kenney - a vocalist known for her haunting timbral sense, as well as her profound interpretation of vocal traditions - and Eyvind Kang - a violist for whom the act of music and learning is a spiritual discipline.
Their LP 'Aestuarium' was the second release on Stephen O'Malley's Ideologic Organ label. A meditation on a psalm of lamentation and the unary tone in the metaphor of salt and fresh water, inspired by Gaelic psalmery, Tibetan notational gestures, and the microtonality of the tetrachord, 'Aestuarium' was recorded on the shore of Colvos Passage in 2005 by renowned engineer Mell Dettmer.
"Aestuarium is a work of delicate beauty, as pristine as the surface of a lake at dawn on a summer's morning." - TheQuietus
JESSIKA KENNEY
Jessika Kenney is a vocalist and composer based on Vashon Island near Seattle, Washington. Interested in both traditional sources and experimental methods, Kenney has performed and recorded classical Persian vocal repertoire with ney master Ostad Hossein Omoumi, new and traditional Javanese music with Gamelan Pacifica and Gamelan Madu Sari, and the music of contemporary composers such as John Cage, Hans Eisler, Lou Harrison, Eyvind Kang, and Tadao Sawai. Her teachers include the jazz vocalist Jay Clayton at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle and Nyi Supadmi in Central Java, Indonesia, where she studied traditional Javanese vocal music and collaborated on music and theater in experimental settings.
Working since 1995, Eyvind Kang can be heard on over 50 records, collaborating with the likes of Sun City Girls, Bill Frisell, Secret Chiefs, Blonde Redhead, Robin Holcomb, Laurie Anderson and many others. In addition to arranging and performing with other musicians, he has released many recordings of original music notably the acclaimed choral piece "Athlantis" (Ipecac) and "The Yelm Sessions" (Tzadik). The Narrow Garden - his latest release due out on Ipecac at the end of January 2012 - is no exception, offering one of his most original and perhaps one of his most playful recordings to date.
The music on The Narrow Garden sounds like it was composed for a film soundtrack in the way that Eyvind Kang creates evocative visual spaces with sound. True to form the album is composed of full-bodied pieces of music that evolve from minimal song structure to more grandiose musical statements throughout, 'Forest Saman'i' is a great example of this. 'Pure Nothing', 'Mineralia' and 'Nobis Natalis' nod to the choral tones on Athlantis and show definite eastern influences, whilst 'Usnea' and 'The Narrow Garden' experiment with some truly eerie samples.
His new work of ensemble pieces 'Visible Breath' will be the fourth release on Ideologic Organ.
