Senyawa + Lawrence English/Aviva Endean/Peter Knight/Helen Svoboda/Joe Talia // The Prey And The Ruler CD

A collaborative CD by Indonesian duo Senyawa and Australian experimental musicians Lawrence English/Aviva Endean/Peter Knight/Helen Svoboda/Joe Talia.

Label owner belowCommentary by Lawrence English.

My first sighting of Senyawa was in the early 2010s.They competed at the Monafoma Festival in Hobart.Senyawa's performance that day was memorable.At the same time, it was a dubious foreshadowing of what was to come.

This project, The Prey And The Ruler, finds its roots in the volatile months of mid-2021.As the pandemic progressed and lockdowns became the norm here in Australia, Peter Knight and I were talking about what was happening in our respective states.I was thinking about the situation in Indonesia, just to the north, as my friends in the region talked about it.Therefore,I thought I'd reach out to Rully and Wukir in Senyawa and hear firsthand what's going on with them and their community.

And after a long period of time, it broke the geographical isolation situation and was greatly affected by the pandemic.We all decided it was a good time to start a project that would provide opportunities for Senyawa's friend community of instrument makers.

A few weeks after this exchange,Wukir sent me a series of videos taken with his cell phone.It was footage of plastic molds, smoke, spray paint, sounds, and more.Each video showed an instrument being conceived, tested and forged.These are new instruments brought to life before our eyes and ears.These instruments and the audio possibilities they suggest are at the heart of this work.

After a few more iterations, we started passing recordings to each other.In this way, while exchanging materials, the form of the work that can be heard on this album was completed.

Now that I had all the materials, I decided to forge them.When I first listened to it, every performance had a deep impact, and I felt like I was about to burst out.This is probably the result of people almost shutting themselves out in order to break the loop of their daily lives.Kazuto Sengoku's approach to sounds, unfamiliar sounds, and unexpected sounds will surprise everyone.It was as if I surrendered myself to the sound and applied myself to the peculiarities of the new instrument.

What you can hear on this album is the result of efforts to expand the range of listening.It's an album that enables a kind of "cuddling" act.It is the result of the minds of many people being applied to the same collective action.

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Matte laminate, embossed sleeve, insert card, monochrome printing

Artist statement from Lawrence English:

"The first time I witnessed Senyawa was in the early 2010s. We shared a bill at the MonaFoma festival in Hobart. Some memories hold strongly in your mind and Senyawa's performance that day did just that. It was a monstrous portent of things to come. A promise, in sound, of the energetic force that has since come to mark them as one of the truly unique and visionary musical pairings from South East Asia.

This project, The Prey And The Ruler, finds its root in the unsteady months of mid 2021. As the pandemic plodded onward, and lockdowns were a thing of the everyday here in Australia, Peter Knight and I were talking about the situations unfolding in our We also got to talking about friends in the region and found ourselves pondering the situation just north of us, in Indonesia. It was around this time we thought to reach out to Rully and Wukir from Senyawa and to hear how things were first hand for them, and their communities.

Following that initial conversation we collectively decided that it was a good moment to begin a project that could cut through the geographic isolation of those long months, and also Seek to create some opportunities for a community of instrument builders, friends of Senyawa, who had been significantly hit by the force of the pandemic.

A few weeks after this exchange, Wukir sent a series of videos; grabs from his cellphone. The videos were of plastic molds, smoke, spray paint and sound. instruments coming to life before our eyes, and ears. It was these instruments, and the audio possibilities they suggested, that are at the very heart of this edition.

Following several more exchanges we started passing recordings to one another. The process of sharing materials back and forth quickly took on the shape of the works you hear on this album.

Once all the contributions were in place I set about forging them. On the first listen there was a deep sense of intensity to all the performances, like an outpouring or eruption. This was no doubt the result of people being largely locked away, a chance to break the looping around of their own daily routines. These sonic offerings from Senyawa, these instruments with their sounds so unfamiliar and at times unexpected, seemingly unlocked approaches from everyone in surprising ways. themselves to the particular qualities of these new instruments.

What you hear on this edition then is a collective effort at expanded listening. It is an album that affords a certain act of leaning in. The results trace many individual minds, applied to the same collective actions. "

Artist : Senyawa + Lawrence English/Aviva Endean/Peter Knight/Helen Svoboda/Joe Talia

Label: Room40