Nicolas Cadena

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⎤⎤⎤ - Live at Opus 40 - 3 Minute Version (2025) - Made for ⎤⎤⎤ album out via Notice Recordings
Run Time: 03:49
Single Channel
*This piece contains flashing imagery throughout*

⎤⎤⎤, the duo of Chantal Michelle and Grace Villamil, are interested in what they term "sound obliteration"—a paradoxical process that, in their hands, reveals teeming masses of sonic detail. The pair works in a variety of modes, including composition, installation, and performance. Live at Opus 40 begins with machinic drones that expand and dissolve into the warm, open-air environment where it was recorded, initially anchored by the site's rock formations. The piece is constructed from eight distinct recordings of a live performance at Opus 40, an expansive land sculpture in upstate New York. Each field recording offers a unique spatial and acoustic perspective. In addition, microphones and various instruments were placed throughout the site, inviting audience members to interact with them—their playing captured, processed, and reintroduced into the evolving soundscape. The duo cultivates a high degree of ambient tension, creating a condition where electronics and objects situate around a central sound—circling, overwhelming, and ultimately transforming it. This approach reflects a deep attentiveness, trust, and an embrace of risk as the performance continuously evolves. The result is a work that remains uncannily musical and cathartic, teetering between composition and documentation while constantly threatening to bloom into gales of noise.    - Notice Recordings

Note: Filming and editing this small concert footage excerpt for ⎤⎤⎤ was a thrill. For the flicker effect, I must give a shoutout to the great filmmaker and programmer Matt McWilliams, whose Frameloom script was instrumental in giving the footage form and aligning it with the sonic environment imbued within the album.

Credits:
released February 28, 2025  

Chantal Michelle and Grace Villamil - electronics, voice

Video Recording by: Nicolas Cadena & Frances Grace Mortel

Full concert footage assembly by: Frances Grace Mortel

Clips, effects, and excerpts edited by: Nicolas Cadena

Featuring field recordings of the event by:
Camilo Angeles
Nicolas Cadena
Evan Lindorff-Ellery
Frances Grace Mortel

July 19, 2024 at Opus 40, West Saugerties, New York

Mixed by Chantal Michelle
Mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi

Artwork by E. Lindorff-Ellery
Printed by Small Fires Press