Worthwhile avant-garde music is constantly pouring from “a cybercloud somewhere above the English Channel,” a.k.a. Besançon and London-based imprint Hands in the Dark. On March 29 and April 19, the label is set to put out new albums by Piotr Kurek and Mondkopf, respectively. For both artists, it will be their debut in the roster of the label; but neither of them is by any means “new” to the game of survival we call experimental music.
Warsaw musician Piotr Kurek has made a name for himself with an eclectic array of electronic and electro-acoustic releases, both under his birth name and a number of monikers (most famously as Heroiny, whose 2015 album Ahh-Ohh is one of the weirdest “fun” albums you’ve never heard). His release for Hands in the Dark, titled Polygome, straddles the line between eavesdropped alien folk and deliberate synthesizer architecture, taking us on “an entrancing tour around a collection of modern, cubic and art brut tunes.”
Mondkopf, on the other hand, is Paul Régimbeau of Paris via Toulouse. Active since 2005 and known for “constantly treading new ground with artistic bravery and curiosity,” he debuts here with a soundtrack to a new adaptation of the Kafkan play, The Silence of the Sirens (directed by Diana Vidrascu). The four long compositions that make the release are stately, emotionally-gripping epics of the “classical meets ambient meets drone” variety that we all love so much.
You can pre-order the albums through the label’s Bandcamp now and check out samples from both releases below:
Piotr Kurek: Polygome tracklisting:
01. Vowels
02. Lacomb
03. ESQ Vox
04. Polygome
05. Dynasty
06. Tuxedo
07. Nesting
08. Impossible Space
Mondkopf: How Deep Is Our Love? traklisting:
01. Last Day On Earth
02. Growing
03. Death Is Not A Lover
04. Inner Fire
More about: Mondkopf, Piotr Kurek
