OJP023 : Haco - Kent Macpherson - Megan Berry - Jeremy Mayall / Wild Sonic Blooms

Cover art by Paul Bradley

OJP023 : Haco - Kent Macpherson - Megan Berry - Jeremy Mayall / Wild Sonic Blooms

Wild Sonic Blooms is a collaboration between Haco San, the famous Japanese composer, vocalist, electroacoustic performer, sound artist, and founding member of After Dinner (1981-1991) and Hoahio and 3 New-Zealander artists and teachers from the Wintec school of Media Arts Waikato Institute of Technology. 

They invited Haco San to perform a semi improvised one hour set which was the base for a video performance at Ramp Gallery, Hamilton, NZ - 11.12.2016, by Jeremy Mayall, Kent Macpherson, Megan Berry, and Haco. 

Kent worked with Haco first in 2012, where she was invited to collaborate with him as part of the Spark international festival of music, media, arts and design. They performed the work 'BugLoop' in Hamilton New Zealand. A multimedia sound art improvisation centred on water as its source. You can watch the full experience here.

As part of his 2016 research outputs, Kent applied for a research grant to bring Haco to NZ once again to collaborate with a larger group of musicians. They spent 2 days in Studio A at the school of music (Wintec), recording over 6 hours of music. Also 2 live performances were realised on the same day and captured on film. The afternoon performance is the recording you are experiencing through this release.

Haco San

Haco is a Japanese singer, composer, multi-instrumentalist and sound artist, known for her work with After Dinner and Hoahio, among others.

Following formal studies in acoustics, electronic music and recording technology in 1980, Haco came to international attention fronting the group After Dinner (active between 1981–1991). 

Haco released her first solo album in 1995, and embarked on her first solo European tour a year later. More recently, Haco has worked with various groups and has recorded or performed with countless other artists, such as Otomo Yoshihide.

In addition to her more conventional album releases Haco has also worked in the fields of sound art or curating exhibitions and installations and establishing the sound art project View Masters. Visit her site here.

Kent

Kent Macpherson is a Hamilton based sonic artist, composer, researcher and audio technology lecturer (Wintec). His research practice includes capturing found and unfound sound, improvisation, performance and electroacoustic composition. 

His sonic art practice utilises contact microphones and hydrophones to capture the sounds emitted by large resonating structures such as bridges, turbines, aerials and buildings. His most recent sonic artwork ‘The absent sense’ is currently exhibiting in China.
He performs as a member of the avant classical soundscape ensemble ‘Dr Mesmers Private Army’ playing keyboards and octave guitar. Read more here.

Jeremy

Jeremy Mayall is a Composer/Producer/Performer originally from Hamilton, NZ. He likes to refer to himself as a “Creative Collaborator” and was the Mozart Fellow (composer-in-residence) at Otago University for 2014-2015.

His most recent work has been focussed on the exploration multimedia, multisensory, interdisciplinary projects. Various collaborations have included musicians, dancers, poets, silks performers, theatre practitioners, scientists, perfumers, bakers, authors, sculptors, filmmakers, pyrotechnicians, lighting designers and visual artists. Read more here.

Megan

Megan Berry is a composer and performer based in Hamilton, New Zealand. She has released two albums with her indie-folk band, The Heartbreak Kids. She teaches Music Theory, Performance and Songwriting in the Music Department at the School of Media Arts, Waikato Institute of Technology.

Wild Sonic Blooms Trailer from Kent Macpherson on Vimeo.

Performers:

Kent Macpherson – octave guitar, keyboard, laptop

Jeremy Mayall - keyboard, turntable, iPad

Haco - vocals, electronics, howling pot, found sounds

Megan Berry - vocals, fx, samplepad

"Wild Sonic Blooms"

Music composed and created by:

Megan Berry, Haco, Kent Macpherson, and, Jeremy Mayall.

Recorded live at Ramp Gallery (Dec. 2016)

Sound Mix - Dan Edgar Reese

Thanks to:

Wintec Music Department / David Sidwell / Brad Morgan / Wintec School of Media Arts /

Wintec Research Office / ACLX / Ramp Gallery

Made possible with the support of Wintec Research Fellowship 2016

Digital release on the 17th of November 2017.

Track listing:

1: Wild Sonic Blooms, Pt.1 - Floraison
2: Wild Sonic Blooms, Pt.2 - Saku
3: Wild Sonic Blooms, Pt.3 - Pua Pua
4: Wild Sonic Blooms, Pt.4 - Bloom

And in Bandcamp: