dolichonyx "_dolichonyx" Limited Edition Cassette
Ed. of 25. Silver shell. Artwork by ryanSmith. Double-sided color j-card. Dubbed at KMAN HQ.
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Dolichonyx is the Baltimore-area duo of Matt Muirhead and Ryan Smith. With Muirhead on modular synth and assorted instruments and Smith looping and processing an array of home-built instruments, they create a fascinating layerwork of rhythms, pulses and timbres. This is a really special record of two thoughtful improvisers at work.
A brief interview between KMAN and Ryan Smith by way of introducing Dolichonyx:
KMAN: Hello Dolichonyx!
Tell the listeners a little bit about yourselves. How did you first start collaborating?
rS:
Matt & I first started playing music together back in 2013. He was living in Hampden, Baltimore, and we would hangout and play handmade instruments. Back then he and our buddy Justin were making a variety of handmade kalimbas and percussive instruments. Matt has been very active, making visual art & music. I've also created a lot of musical installations and collaborated with artists in Baltimore.
Over the years we did stuff together, but didn't start the band "Dolichonyx" until Summer 2020. Matt was quarantined with his partner McKenzie and his baby Tom; I was at home with my partner Steph. While Matt was playing with his synthesizers, I was at home tapping on tanks and kalimbas. Eventually, he and I got together for some social-distanced outdoor jams. Mostly improvised, these recordings were made in Baltimore County, in Matt's backyard. The tracks were later cut up and slightly edited.
On the recordings, Matt mostly uses his synthesizers, and I play along with him. I'm tapping on "Touch Tone Tanks", and a variety of things. A lot of the bowed sounds you hear are guitar strings bolted to a large metal salad bowl.
KMAN: Right from the start of "beebob the loop," there's a playful tension I hear throughout the album between more sequenced, machine-like melodies and rhythms and more flowing, textural sounds. As far as you'd like to discuss it, what's the recipe? How do each of you contribute to this tasty sonic soup?
rS:
Matt is using drum loops, sequenced sound effects; he has a briefcase full of mysterious wires and blinking lights. I'm playing live, through some delay, pitch-shifter and loop pedals. It's a lovely collage of sounds.
KMAN: I know you're both visual artists as well as musicians. In what way (if at all) does your work as artists of visual media influence your work in audio?
rS:
I've made a lot of digital videos, created paintings, and worked with digital photography. I feel like it doesn't matter what I'm working with, I enjoy playing with layers. In this case, we're not working with paint, we're playing with layers of sound, and having fun with it. Matt's visual art is vibrant, and I think the music is just as colorful. He works a lot with silkscreens, and layering paint on a variety things. It's fun to hear these ideas come together in the form of auditory landscapes.
After all the tracks were recorded, Matt sent me some images of silkscreens and paintings. I put together the layers in Photoshop, and the music influenced the art.
So, I think it goes back and forth: Visual art influences music, and music influences visual art. And, we as artists influence each other.
KMAN: If you could sum up this aural collaboration in a single sentence or phrase, what would it be? No wrong answers.
rS: An enjoyable experiment with textures, rhythms, and sounds.
credits
released May 7, 2021
dolichonyx is:
Matt Muirhead & ryanSmith,
on synthesizers & handmade instruments.
Recorded in Baltimore County,
on planet Earth.
digital art: rS
Matt would like to thank
McKenzie and Tom for their patience.
Ryan would like to thank
Stephanie for her support.
Thanks to Rich
for putting this tape together.
And, thanks to anyone
who shows an interest in weird music!
Cheers!
Digital album available here: dolichonyx.bandcamp.com/album/dolichonyx
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