Austin’s Elevator Bath label presents an evening of experimental sound art: four solo performances featuring ambient drone, field recordings, modular synthesis, and audio collage, in and outside the traditions of musique concrète.

Adam Pacione is a composer from Fort Worth, TX. Pacione’s music contains elements of ambient textures, drones, field recordings, processed radio transmissions and modular synthesis. His works have been released by Elevator Bath, Infraction Records, Kesh, Bee Eater Recordings, and 23five, among other labels. Stand out releases include Sisyphus, Dobranoc, and Any Way, Shape, or Form (Elevator Bath), as well as From Stills to Motion (Infraction), With Wakened Eyes and Mâché (self released). He has provided remixes for the likes of Simon Scott (Slowdive) and Machinefabriek (Rutger Zuydervelt).

Alan Jones is a Dallas-born, Washington-based musician, composer, and sound designer. In improvised live performance he emphasizes the use of guitar, lap steel, and pedal steel. Jones is the architect behind Laminal Audio, a mastering studio in Washington state that appeals to his bent for the archiving and modulation of sound. Laminal Audio’s quality control lends to his carefully curated small batch label Marginal Frequency.

Colin Sheffield was born in El Paso, TX and makes his home in Austin. His work focuses on the re-contextualization of pre-existing recordings, mostly drawing from his personal music collection. His aim is to distill the essential qualities of these works and to then utilize that essence for new compositions. The resultant music is an atmospheric soundscape, gradually shifting and unfolding, offering subtle juxtaposition and nuance. His recordings often seem to have much in common with ambient electronic music, though are equally akin to “plunderphonic” audio collage. Sheffield has released a number of solo recordings over the years, including, among others, Signatures (Invisible Birds), Slowly (Mystery Sea), and Repair Me Now (Glistening Examples). Sheffield’s new album, Don’t Ever Let Me Know will be released as a vinyl LP by the Auf Abwegen label in 2022. In 1998, Sheffield founded the Elevator Bath recording label which has continually issued experimental works from a variety of artists from the United States and abroad.

Andrew Anderson, based in Austin TX, creates sound pieces out of carefully curated field recordings, hidden samples, destroyed tape, and various instruments, both electronic and analog, with a focus on quiet repetition, drone, and patient change. After dabbling in sound for many years, he finally started self-releasing solo work, starting with his first full length in 2014, The Red Dream. In 2020, he teamed with Thor Harris (Swans, Thor & Friends, Shearwater, Angels of Light, etc.) to form the project THAA, and released Against Permanence. In 2022, his latest solo release, Vagrancies was issued by Elevator Bath.

Tongue Depressor is the duo of Zach Rowden and Henry Birdsey. They write and perform music with pedal steel, double bass, bells, tapes, and fiddles, often using microtonal tunings.

Austin Larkin is a composer and violinist focusing on elements of tone within the interstices of fields, symmetries, and patterns. His performance and practice is informed by research into dimensions of vibrating bodies. His solo album Violin Liquid Phases is forthcoming through Memory of a Past Heat.

Eyvind Kang and Jessika Kenney are a duo devoted to geomusicalities and music at the border of sound, currently on tour supporting their new and upcoming recordings. Their previous albums include Cypress Dance (Ed. Mariana Calo & Francisco Queimadela), the face of the earth, Aestuarium (Ideologic Organ), Reverse Tree (Black Truffle), Seva/Fixiones (self released cassette), and At Temple Gate with Hyeon Hee Park (Weyrd Son). As a duo they have worked with poet Anne Carson and randomizer Bob Currie, the bands Sun City Girls, Sunn O))), Animal Collective, composer Annea Lockwood, and others.

To celebrate the release of two albums recorded over the pandemic – Eva-Maria Houben’s Windspiel and Alvin Lucier’s Still and Moving Lines of Silence in Families of Hyperbolas, (part II, numbers 5-8) – local experimental percussionist Aaron Michael Butler performs an evening of music that evokes environmental landscapes and explores constructive and destructive interference of waveforms. Special guest Cassie Lear will join him in a performance of Houben’s John Muir Trails 1 for flute and percussion.

COVID-19 PROTOCOLS: For the safety of all present, audience members are encouraged to wear a mask covering nose and mouth. Windows will be open.

Ramen Trio celebrates it’s second recording release with another eclectic and engaging performance of composed/improvised music.

Ramen Trio mixes composition and improvisation in various combinations while not adhering to any one style. You will hear elements of jazz, contemporary classical, folk and even rock at different times. The band plays in a unified way, but often opens into three separate threads simultaneously. This music ignores fences.

This concert celebrates the release of their second recording, Resembling, and marks what will most likely be their final performance due to drummer Jay Weaver’s upcoming move to Berlin.

Ramen Trio is James DeJoie, clarinet & bass clarinet; Doug Lilla, bass guitar; Jay Weaver, drums

COVID-19 PROTOCOLS: For the safety of all present, audience members are asked to show proof of vaccination and wear masks covering nose and mouth.

Seattle marimbist and producer Erin Jorgensen is joined by inimitable musicians Rachel Nesvig (Hardanger fiddle), Leanna Keith (flute), Aaron Michael Butler (percussion & sound manipulation), Steve Peters (field recordings), and Kevin Blanquies (lights) for a one-night-only-4-hour-improvisational musical nod to Summer Solstice. Underpinned by the hypnotic undertones of a five-octave marimba and dream-inducing vocals, this evening will shift and change with the addition and subtraction of flute, strings, and percussion and the beautifully changing natural light in the magical Chapel space. Stay for the whole evening or come and go as you please. Prepare to aggressively chill and receive a literal vibrational upgrade. Audience is encouraged to bring pillows or blankets for maximum meditation.

COVID-19 PROTOCOLS: At the request of the performers, masks are required. 

Mangal is an experimental ensemble conceived by mrudangam artist and composer Rajna Swaminathan, gathering artists across disciplines and locales to collaboratively improvise while pushing the boundaries of their creative process. In English, the word mangal refers to an assemblage of mangroves, which form a chaotic, non-hierarchical rhizome. In Sanskrit, mangal describes harmonious or sacred timing. This imagery of entanglement and serendipity guides a creative space of encounter, transformation, and expansion. This performance brings together a cohort of Seattle-based artists — Zahyr Lauren, Carlos Snaider, Neil Welch, and Ha-Yang Kim — and contributions from visiting artists, including Rajna Swaminathan, Anya Yermakova, and Caroline Davis.

This iteration of Mangal is presented with support from The Ocean Memory Project, a collaborative network of researchers across the sciences, arts, and humanities dedicated to exploring the intersections of Ocean and Memory, as a new field of scholarship and creative expression. In the days leading up to the performance, the artists will gather for a short creative residency at the Chapel Performance Space, interfacing with oceanographers and environmental scholars, and meditating on oceanic modes of creating and remembering through immersion, dissipation, and opacity. 

Rajna Swaminathan is an acclaimed mrudangam (South Indian percussion) artist, composer, and scholar. Described as “a vital new voice” (Pop Matters), Rajna’s artistic trajectory blossomed through a search for resonance and fluidity among musical forms and aesthetic worlds. Since 2013, she has led the New York-based ensemble RAJAS, writing expansive, boundary breaking music for herself and like-minded improvisers, spanning multiple musical approaches. As a composer, Rajna has received commissions from the LA Phil, Chamber Music America New Jazz Works, and Bang On A Can Marathon, among others. She holds a PhD in Music (Creative Practice and Critical Inquiry) from Harvard University, and degrees in Anthropology and French from the University of Maryland, College Park. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Music (Integrated Composition, Improvisation, and Technology) at UC Irvine’s Claire Trevor School of the Arts. 

Curated by Carlos Snaider for Nonsequitur’s NonSeq series.

COVID-19 PROTOCOLS: For the safety of performers and audience, all audience members will be required to show proof of vaccination and wear masks covering nose and mouth.

Naeim Rahmani, classical guitarist and Artistic Director of the Seattle-Isfahan Project, has commissioned new works by three Iranian composers living outside of Iran (Anahita Abbasi, Farziah Fallah, Parisa Sabet) and three Seattle composers (Jeff Bowen, Huck Hodge, Yigit Kolat) to draw attention to the water crisis that is happening now in Iran, particularly the drought that is affecting the Zayandeh-Roud, the river that gave birth to the city of Isfahan.

In the last decade, Iran has experienced severe drought tied to climate change. In Isfahan this has been most noticeable in the parched riverbed of the Zayandehroud river. The once flowing river cut across the landscape and carved timeless memories in people’s minds. The “Empty River of Life” ran under the historic bridges and for more than 400 years, the Se-o-se pol (Bridge of 33 Arches) made its motion and power visible. While the bridge is standing, the river is no longer running as it used to. One day it’s flowing and the next day it is literally gone. The future of the river, like the future of the country, is uncertain. This project is intended to both pay homage to the river and to raise people’s awareness about the drought and its impacts.

The project title 33 refers to the 33 arches that make up the most famous bridge across the river. As in the previous Seattle-Isfahan project, the compositions will again incorporate poetry, this time from the Iranian contemporary poet Sohrab Sepheri, whose poetry is closely tied to nature and man’s interaction with it. The ensemble includes Abbey Blackwell (bass), Jeff Bowen (guitars), Luke Fitzpatrick (violin/viola), Naeim Rahmani (guitars), Laure Struber (piano), and Neil Welch (saxophone).

Presented by Nonsequitur.

COVID-19 PROTOCOLS: For the safety of all present, audience members are required to wear a mask covering nose and mouth.

Jeff Greinke is a renowned composer of ambient, electroacoustic, and experimental music. Having a degree in meteorology, weather has remained a central theme of his heavily atmospheric work, which blends electronic and acoustic instruments and textures to produce multi-layered soundscapes that are at once haunting and inviting. Deeply informed by his time living in the desert outside of Tucson, his most recent release is Noctilucent (Spotted Peccary). He’ll present a solo set of electronic and sample-based music with projections of his new video work, and play a short duo set with longtime friend and collaborator Rob Angus.

Rob Angus builds kinetic ambient soundscapes using a variety of acoustic instruments to generate sounds that are manipulated, layered, and sent out into a multi-channel surround-sound system. He will perform three new pieces with video projections.

Greinke and Angus met at Penn State where they started composing and performing together. In 1982 they moved to Seattle and began playing in clubs and festivals, working with a variety of musicians in various bands and projects. Their work as a duo was documented on the classic album Crossing Ngoli (Ear-Rational, 1992). Greinke moved to Arizona in 2003, and is excited to return to his former home for his first Seattle show since 2016.

COVID-19 protocols: Wearing a mask covering nose and mouth is strongly encouraged.

A culinary artist of audio food, sous chef (Antoine Martel) uniquely blends modular synths, classical & film inspired pianos, strings, and horns as well as experimental sounds & music concrete style sampling, mixing together both highly composed an totally improvised pieces in an attempt to explore vast cosmic landscapes of undiscovered sounds. Sous chef has been creating for almost a decade now, crafting a wide variety of musical experiences and experiments. Over the last few years, the project has been refined from a chaotic solo brainstorm to a more focused vision of what sous chef can be. This will be the debut performance of the new material. The old stuff has been slowly and quietly removed from the internet, creating the space for a re-birth. Come see what new creations this audio chef has been cookin’ up.

Beanieskimask is Victory Nguyen, who plays with High Pulp and Eams. Channeling emotions and musical storytelling with woodwinds and electronics. Open to being inspired and influenced by all music and art. Derek Blackstone is a living composer. Who produces sound by acoustic and electronic means. Who creates soundscapes for movement and installation. Who reaches sonic heights with the pious duo UNITY GARNISH. Together they will enter a boundless sonic playground under the supervision of the Great Creator, guided by Intuition, and entrusted to spontaneous Creation. The duo have moved toward transcendental musical expression since time immemorial and are thrilled to make their debut performance at the Chapel.

Curated by Carlos Snaider for Nonsequitur’s NonSeq series.

COVID-19 PROTOCOLS: Masks are recommended.

Jason Kahn (Zürich) and Alan F. Jones (Tracyton, WA) will perform in support of Jason’s ongoing US tour, with two solo sets each and one duo set for an evening of dynamic modular synthesis and prepared pedal steel guitar.

Jason Kahn was born in New York, in 1960. An artist, musician, and writer. He lives and works in Zürich. His work with electronics involves chaotic feedback systems and placing his body in the circuit ow. Grabbing open leads with the hands makes and breaks circuits, causing the synthesizer to overload or momentarily collapse. Various contact microphones, electromagnetic inductors, and the synthesizer’s own output via a mixing board are used to modulate the parameters of the synthesizer. This results in a very dynamic system, often difficult to control, but allowing great expressivity — much like any acoustic instrument, but electronic. As an electronic musician, guitarist, vocalist, and percussionist, Kahn collaborates with many international musicians in the context of free improvised music. Jason has performed and exhibited work around the world.

A.F. Jones is a Dallas-born, Washington-based musician, composer, and sound designer. His live sets are fully improvised, emphasizing the use of guitar, lap steel, and pedal steel. Al is currently involved in several projects, including ‘what’, Telescoping, and Buck Young. As a sound designer and filmmaker, his most recent film is the acclaimed What Is Man and What Is Guitar? Keith Rowe. He runs the Laminal mastering studio and curates the Marginal Frequency performance series and record label of the same name.

COVID-19 PROTOCOLS: For the safety of all present, audience members are required to wear a mask covering nose and mouth.