Unnatural by Patrick Graham & John Sellekaers

Percussionist Patrick Graham and electronic musician John Sellekaers first met in Montreal, Canada.

In 2007, John proposed the idea of a collaborative project: to re-imagine and re-mix a series of Patrick’s solo percussion improvisations. But when John moved back to his native Belgium shortly thereafter, the recordings and the project were shelved... for almost twelve years.

In 2020, the project has been reborn.

Unnatural is a collection of enigmatic pieces that oscillate between silence and chaos, a physical sound immersion into an imaginary ritual. Each track is like a narrative, perhaps more than a story, without any linear development as the effect of one being immersed in an enclosure.

Recorded only using acoustic percussion sounds as raw materials, the music has great immediacy, is clear and enveloping, enabling the smallest details to find air. A testament to both Patrick’s skill at coaxing a vast palette of textures from percussion and John’s talent as sculptor of digital music.

The press says:

* Sembra di percorrere un’attrazione di Gardaland nel semibuio, tra luci stroboscopiche, ombre minacciose, fumo e laser di occhi verdi di animatronics. Volete salire in giostra? Però può impressionarvi, dovete essere più alti di così... (Music Map, Italy - http://www.musicmap.it/recdischi/ordinaperr.asp?id=7581 )

* [...] an eight track album which covers a stylistical bandwith from eerie, desolate and post-apocalyptic Cold Ambient [...] with all sounds and atmospheres created on the sole base of acoustic percussion recordings only. Quite an impressive conceptual effort. (Nitestylez, Germany - http://www.nitestylez.de/2020/03/patrick-graham-john-sellekaers.html )

* Unnatural est le fruit d’un travail commencé il y a des années, le temps n’abattant jamais les plus décidés, une fois encore le monde actuel étant à l’image de leur musique, viscérale et imprévisible, matérialiste et immatérielle, pleine de forces tangibles et d’équilibres précaires. Captivant. (SilenceAndSound, France - https://silenceandsound.me/2020/03/25/patrick-graham-john-sellekaers/ )

* Is it Unnatural to remix works for solo percussion? Not in the minds of Patrick Graham & John Sellekaers. This intriguing project took 13 years to come to fruition; we’d rather call it unusual. (A Closer Listen - https://acloserlisten.com/2020/03/19/spring-music-preview-2020-experimental/ )

30 years of strange sounds 📡

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