Sunday 16 December 2018, 7.30pm
Los Angeles-based composer Tashi Wada presents his new group featuring Julia Holter and percussionist Corey Fogel performing music from Wada's new album “Nue” out this fall on Brooklyn-based label RVNG Intl. “Nue” draws on aspects of Wada’s background, among them reimagined forms of ancient and devotional music, psychoacoustics, and non-equal tempered tunings. In Japanese, ‘nue’ is a mythological chimera with the face of a monkey, the legs of a tiger, and the tail of a snake. In French, ‘nue’ means naked—stripped of complexity, bare and exposed, but also raw and essential. This duality underlies “Nue.” As an experience, “Nue” subtly navigates the interactions, intimacy and spaciousness between the group. Released as part of RVNG Intl’s FRKWYS series of intergenerational projects, this collaboration ranges from minimalist bagpipes to otherworldly vocals, creating, in Wada’s words, “a vision, an endless night of dreams, and a personal history of sorts, full of joys and demons.” From the doubling of tones—and the world of harmonic nuances such an action produces—to the rich interplay between individual musicians, all baring their own personalities and experiences through shared performance, Wada’s compositions allow space for these elements to join and grow. The multipartite creature that is an ensemble melds in the simplicity and purity of the music itself.
Tashi Wada is a composer and performer based in Los Angeles. His works explore resonance and dissonance through alternate tunings and extended harmony, using simple structures to generate rich and unanticipated perceptual effects. Wada studied composition at CalArts with James Tenney and for many years performed alongside his father, composer and artist Yoshi Wada. He has presented his music internationally and collaborated with a range of artists including Charles Curtis, Simone Forti, and Julia Holter. Wada founded and runs the label Saltern. His most recent album Nue was released by RVNG Intl.
Julia Holter is a composer, performer, and recording artist based in Los Angeles. Her interest in sonic mysteries has led her to record in various settings—in her home, outside with a field recorder, and in recording studios—as well as to perform live, often with a focus on the voice and the space between language and babble. Holter’s music is multi-layered and texturally rich. She has amassed a body of work that explores melody within free song structures, atmosphere, and the impulses of the voice.
Corey Fogel is a drummer and artist living in Los Angeles, California. His practice is based in momentary encounters between music and objects, textiles, foods, and other collaborators. Fogel engages the viewer to consider sound as a medium on par with paint and cellulose, a constant in our daily lives. Through his work, he challenges us to consider the contexts in which we create, store, and understand music performance.