They dug and dug, and so
their day went past, their night.
And they did not praise God,
who, so they heard, wanted all this,
who, so they heard, witnessed all this.
They dug and heard nothing more;
they did not grow wise, invented no song,
devised for themselves no sort of language.
They dug.

John Chantler is a musician working with synthesizers, electronics and sometimes pipe organs to explore his own personalised compositional and improvisational strategies — working with and against the specific systems inherent in his chosen tools. His most recent LP — Which Way To Leave? (ROOM40) — charts an unpredictable, highly dynamic course through distorted washes of masses harmonics and passages of spare, alien beauty. This follows Still Light, Outside (1703 Skivbolaget) — an extended suite that combines passages of stark minimalism centred at the bodily invasive extremes of the pipe organ’s register with striking explosions of colour; massed chords shot through with heavy distortion and electronics that operate according to their own dream logic. Originally from Australia he spent a decade in London before moving to Sweden where he also directs a small festival for ‘other music’ in Stockholm called Edition. The Second Edition took place in February 2017.

This incarnation of Scott Morgan’s loscil project features remixes of past works and premiers of new creations with live, improvised accompaniment by long time collaborator, Jason Zumpano on Rhodes piano. With a penchant for slow moving, low level, nearly static compositions, loscil carves out a soundtrack for hidden worlds and creates a listening space dually suited to deep listening or purely subconscious absorption.

Rachael Melanson is an transmedia artist from the UK who plays with the fissure between author/reader and online/offline environments, she explores the fluidity of this space, acting as a connective tissue that binds and blurs the divides between. She also performs under the alias, Rosen, and has produced event based works that have been presented at the likes of New Forms Festival (Canada), TARP Audio Visual Poetry Festival (Lithuania), The Audio Foundation and The Physics Room (New Zealand), VOIDOID Archive and the ICA (UK).

Smalltime Magic is a sound art duo made up of musicians / playmates Alanna Ho and Alexandra Spence. They present audiovisual performances and installations that explore the idea of ‘play’ as an entrypoint into the world of sound and technology, often featuring toys and unusual sound sources. Now correspondence-based between Vancouver and Sydney, their work examines sound in relation to notions of place, memory and daily experience. They are influenced by the notion that all knowledge begins in experience; their performances and installations invite the audience to engage with their surroundings through the acts of listening, moving and exploring. The work of smalltime magic favours subtlety, and quietude; delicate sounds that ebb and flow, objects that vibrate, spaces that resonate. Carefully constructed aural layers gradually move and develop, inviting contemplative interaction and active thought.