Sunday 3 September 2017, 7.30pm
On the face of it the human voice and analogue synthesizer may appear to have little in common but Audrey Chen and Richard Scott share an intuitive, corporeal and dynamic sound world out of which an intense and sustained musical conversation develops. Phrases and interjections bounce and ricochet between Chen’s vivid lexicon of glottal pops, rasps and expulsions and Scott’s exhaustive catalogue of electronic clangs, plosives and propulsions. The resultant musical conversation may not always seem entirely human in origin, conjuring sonic images of stories, languages and environments populated by many unearthly creatures, real or imagined.
AUDREY CHEN is a second-generation Taiwanese American artist based in Berlin. Her work explores migration, memory and the transmission of untold histories through voice and the body. Using extreme vocal techniques and the Ciat-Lonbarde “Fourses” synthesizer, she creates visceral performances where body, space and sound merge in a feedback loop of resonance and imagination. For over two decades, she has toured internationally, performing solo and in long-term collaborations including duos with Phil Minton, Henrik Munkeby Nørstebø (as BEAM SPLITTER), Lukas Koenig and Julien Desprez (as MOPCUT), Kaffe Matthews, Nick Klein and Hugo Esquinca. Her work has been presented at festivals and venues such as Maerzmusik, CTM, Unsound, Wien Modern, Berghain, Zacheta National Gallery and the Watermill Center. The Wire describes her practice as “uncompromising and idiosyncratic… tightly disciplined yet acoustically wild,” exposing the raw physicality of voice and utterance.
https://www.audreychen.com/
Richard Scott is an electroacoustic composer and free improviser living in Berlin. He is working with analogue modular synthesizers and alternative controllers such as the Buchla Thunder and Lightning as well as his own self-designed WiGi infra red controller developed at STEIM, Amsterdam. Scott has been composing and performing improvised music for over 25 years, producing, performing and recording with artists such as Evan Parker, Twinkle³, Edward Barton, Clive Bell, Olaf Rupp, David Ross and Grutronic. He studied improvisation with John Stevens, saxophone with Elton Dean and Steve Lacy, action theatre improvisation with Sten Rudstrom and electroacoustic composition with David Berezan and Ricardo Climent.
Partial:Recall is the first iteration of a group exploring compositions that focus on memory and organisation in improvising. At this moment in time it is formed by a quartet of Ecka Mordecai (Cello), Michael Perrett (Bass Clarinet), Sam Weaver (Modular Synthesiser) and Otto Willberg (Double Bass). Partial Recall tries to test and push our abilities to listen and interact with what we hear around us. Is is also very much a work in progress, and will hopefully remain that way for a long time to come.
