Breath Fractals
Breath Fractals by Xuan Ye/Chik White
Initially, the music of Chik White (Darcy Spidle of rural Nova Scotia) and Xuan Ye (Toronto) are drastically different. Spidle improvises using the jaw harp, one of the world’s most ancient instruments, on a series of stimulating and freshly invigorating releases, including two recent tapes on Notice. Xuan Ye has developed a dense, fascinating, radically cutting edge synthesis of video and aural performance, somatics, and computer programming, engaging acoustic instruments, voice, field recordings, and strangled frequencies. Spidle has a deep and intense relationship with the ocean; its many guises and characteristics have provided a catalyst for a personal and unique body of work, one that is devoted to his oceanic surroundings and the natural phenomena inherent to its existence. Both artists reference not only outsider folk traditions, but also esoteric strains of the avant-garde, noise, field recordings, and sound collage.
This intimate release reveals their strong musical interplay, evident in the physicality and palpability of the tracks presented. Both are dedicated to the generation of raw sound, while reducing language into its constituent physical parts, as if dramatizing the struggle of human expression. They explore instrument and voice along what feels like very short and concise distances. At times, they branch out into explorations of spaces and objects that feel curious and almost narrative, with the “voice” often present but never remotely understandable. Both artists’ boundary-pushing of physical performance finds a new route in this collaboration.
precariousium
XY: voice, Toronto ON, 2017
satiate
CW: jaw harp and voice, Chezzetcook NS, 2018
as if by a bell
XY: voice and percussion, Long Island NY, 2016
long may I sleep
XY: voice, CW: jarp harp, Toronto ON / Chezzetcook NS, 2017
homing hymn
CW: jaw harp and voice, Cheezetcook NS, 2018
polyphony of breath fractals no.2
XY: voice, CW: jaw harp, Toronto ON / Chezzetcook NS, 2017
polyphony of breath fractals no.1
XY: voice, CW: jaw harp, Toronto ON / Chezzetcook NS, 2017
wodd
CW: jaw harp, Chezzetcook NS, 2017
escalate, escalate
XY: field recordings, various, 2017
omnivore machine
XY: field recording, CW: vocal noise, Toronto ON / Chezzetcook NS, 2017
crane
XY: field recordings, various, 2016
Recorded by Xuan Ye and Darcy Spidle
Mastered by Kyle McDonald
Videos & Source artwork by Xuan Ye
Layout by E. Lindorff-Ellery
Letterpress printed by Small Fires Press, New Orleans
Duplicated by Cryptic Carousel