Ukrainian, Chernihiv-based sound artist-bassist-vocalist Tungu was introduced to Western audiences earlier this year by the Burning Ambulance label and his set of collaborations, Irrational Thinking of the Subject (2024); Austrian, Viennese violinist-vocalist-electronics player-composer Mia Zabelka is known for incorporating elements of noise, drone into her music who has developed a unique musical language in a process she calls «automatic playing», where the music grows out of her physical movement; German, Cologne-based keyboard and electronics player-guitarist-Stefan Strasser is a member of the local psychedelic jazz trio KlangDrangOrchester and the free improvising quartet Improcity. The trio of these musicians was formed during the global lockdowns of the Covid-19 pandemic. The escalation of the war in Ukraine added a new level of resilience and urgency, and Tungu, who initiated this trio found the collaborative act of creating music to be a testament to persistence and strength.
The title of the debut album of this trio refers, obviously, to the spirit of defiance and perseverance in the face of both personal and collective adversity. The 17 short pieces capture the sense of urgency and the spirit of our turbulent, chaotic times where common human norms and global political-geographical settlements and borders dissolve before evil and fascist forces. There is no information about the recording process, but I can assume that it was made remotely, and later Strasser mixed and mastered the recordings and defined the distinct sonic universe of the trio.
the confidence of one swimming against the current serves as a soundtrack to such unsettling, stressful times. Its uncompromising and genre-defying, bold and mostly aggressive, layered textures of otherworldly samples, field recordings, live, spontaneous improvised playing, noises and electronics meld the like-minded, individual voices of Tungu (who also did the cover artwork), Zabelka and Strasser. Each piece intensifies furthermore the feeling of diving into a dark, endless abyss but occasionally some bright lights pierce through this sonic darkness and hint about the strong-minded and determined, creative and expressive human voices who refuse and resist such a fate.
Eyal Hareuveni
Mia Zabelka (violin, voice, electronics), Stefan Strasser (synthesizer, piano, guitar, electronics), Tungu (field recordings, acoustic bass, voice, samples)
