The duet of Maija Anttila and Jonathan Nagel bridges the space between minimalist soundscapes and overwhelming walls of sound. Their instruments, the bass clarinet and contrabass, call for low roaring, but they are also able to produce a wide range of percussive sounds. Through live processing with various effects, dense sonic textures are created which draw the listener into an abstract and fascinating world.
In its slow pace, the music seems stagnant at times, yet it is constantly evolving. Without rush, without pretence, it explores the dark, melancholic and gloomy environment that it pictures. Like a walk through abandoned nightly city roads, it is as much exploration as it is enjoyment of bathing in a certain mood.
Rough and edgy, rumbling and raving, but always upright and straightforward are the voices of the two musicians, and their work takes the listener on a journey into the unknown. Their new album Way Over Time will be released on vinyl and digital on 12th May.
The release of Way Over Time marks the launch of a new record label.
Inspired by the idea of Gesamtkunstwerk, the Amsterdam-based label provides a platform for multi-faceted works which invite to be experienced sonically, visually, physically, intuitively or intellectually.
With each release, Xilent Records strives to facilitate a unique experience by encouraging collaboration of artists from various backgrounds and unveiling the multiplicity of layers which each piece contains. The current arts market has a tendency to undermine and flatten works, by confining them to a singular topic, discipline, genre or style. On the contrary, traditional arts theory and education often overmine and make works inaccessible, by claiming they would require to be understood in a context of study, analysis and background knowledge. Xilent Records advocates that neither of these approaches does fully right to the richness and marvel which thoroughly crafted works of art encompass.
Combining the aforementioned, we see each of our releases as an entity, which can be fully discovered and accessed in any way which appeals to you: by listening to it, looking at it, dancing to it, thinking about it, touching it, researching about it, getting inspired by it, carrying it around in your pocket, taking it out for dinner, or engaging with it in any other way you please.
