Plunging into unknown waters on a warm Whiro night, a spontaneous cast of seven sonic divers submerged themselves into psychedelic improvisational depths, following the vibrations of their hearts and listening closely to waves emitting from their fellow musicians + further reverberations amplified from the energy of the room and its dwellers.
Captured on this audio recording is the sonically-woven work of inter-spatial musical minds; multiple multiplicities, different planets holding their own energies and speaking into the cracks of the physical void from experientially accumulated bodies. Each individual brings a different ear and wisdom to this sonic talanoa, informing a sound concoction which draws attention to varying musical ancestries.
And this was the bands only game plan; to meditate over a drone tone at the beginning of the performance, awaiting David Feauai-Afaese to provide a noticeable cue on the bass guitar to set the tone for what came next...
David never gave the cue, and the rest is outside of what should have been history.
Earlier that day, Navākatoa Tekela-Pule and Larsen Tito-Taylor performed two sets of improvised electronic noise for the Musical Electronics Library at Audio Foundation; both sets were recorded to tape and were played and tampered with during this live performance. They each enjoyed a delicious Banh-Mi from the Lim Chour food court between sets. Abigail Aroha Jensen decided just ten minutes before the set that she was going to jump in (similarly, Parks didn't know he was going to play either, he was asked if he'd be interested in joining the band while accompanying Riki Gooch at Audio Foundation that afternoon, he didn't even know how to play the MFOS Weird Sound Generator, perhaps nobody does). Abigail wore Margiela, sat on a sheepskin rug during performance, and offered her scarf to David Feauai-Afaese to wear over their head while playing. David sat on the floor next to the post in the middle of the stage, obscured from the crowd, at times playing the bass guitar with a screwdriver. The post on stage blocked Jeff Henderson and Larsen Tito-Taylor's vision of each other, as a result, they never saw each other, they could only see one another through sound.
Ahead of his performance with Mara TK (which was due to take place the night prior to Deep Dive Festival), Riki Gooch was anxious about missing his flight from Pōneke to Tāmaki in the morning. Due to lack of sleep he missed his alarm and, thinking he was going to miss the flight, ordered another plane ticket; he passed the rest of the band at the airport on the way to his newly booked flight.
credits
released November 5, 2021
Recorded live at Deep Dive Festival Whammy Bar, Karangahape Road - 10th of July, 2021
Live sound/recording engineer - Mark Petersound
Additional mixing/mastering - Larsen Tito-Taylor
Riki Gooch - drums/cymbals
Jeff Henderson - soprano saxophone/duduk/angklung/melodica/small drum
Parks - MFOS Weird Sound Generator
Larsen Tito-Taylor - Epiphone Les Paul Custom
Navakatoa Tekela-Pule - Moog Grandmother/Tascam tape machine
David Feauai-Afaese - Hofner Contemporary bass
Abigail Aroha Jensen - bowl of water/shells/bells/flute/sticks/manu wing
Alum artwork courtesy of Abigail Aroha Jensen
Additional editing/titles courtesy of Larsen Tito-Taylor
Artwork concept feedback courtesy of Navākatoa Tekela-Pule
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