Contrail marks Kane Ikin’s debut solo release outside of Solo Andata and while the same sense of dark, warm space is present he returns to his roots and focuses more on shoegaze guitar experimentations, lo-fi sample manipulations and warped field recordings. He recorded everything through and onto old technology – aged analog consoles, reel-to-reel tape – and all heard through a hazy science fiction filter.

Steering away from the computer as a one-stop production tool, Kane’s recording process and mindset behind these songs makes for soft and lush sound. Pillow tones hover quietly over guitar plucks and warmly-distorted drones. “Sailing” finds a gentle, broken rhythm, made from found percussion looping underneath a bed of strummed acoustic and walls of inharmonic ambient texture while the title track bathes the listener in sleepy chords and touchable, organic field recordings.

Contrail comes packaged as a limited edition 7” pressed onto clear vinyl and includes a download card for the two vinyl tracks as well as two additional songs, thus creating a 4-song EP. The jacket is a heavy-weight chipboard stock printed with one PMS ink in the style of the previous 12k 7” releases. – 12k

12k.com

We discovered this graceful film a few weeks back now and have been sitting tight waiting for the all clear to announce it on the site. Finally the day has come and we hope you will agree this is a noteworthy project with music composed by Solo Andata’s Kane Ikin…

‘Observations In Hibernation’ for Carly Hunter AW11.
Film by Alex Goddard.
Music Composed By Kane Ikin.
Filmed at Lake Mountain, VIC, Australia.

www.carly-hunter.com
www.alexgoddard.com
www.myspace.com/kaneikin
www.solo-andata.com

After the highly praised “Fyris Swan” (Hefty) and “S/T” (12K), Solo Andata return with “Ritual”, a meticulously-crafted album emphasizing an engagement with the unknown…

‘Ritual’ is Solo Andata’s third full-length album and also the inaugural release for the Buffalo-based label, ‘Desire Path Recordings’. This limited edition 12” LP consists of four glorious sonic ‘topographies’ that are altogether spellbinding, eerie, visceral and energetic. ‘Ritual’, similar to Solo Andata’s self-titled album on 12k, is fundamentally made up of organic sounds, such as primitive gongs, bells and bowls, wildlife and environmental recordings, sacred chants, the vibration of human cancerous cells, cleavers, and prepared piano. These four pieces seem to work toward a repetition or ‘ritual‘ between disparate elements so as to transport us, via a magical spell, to dense otherworldly habitats. In fact, the title of the twenty-minute piece Incantare translates as ‘to chant’ (a magical spell upon), which derives from ‘in’, into, unto and ‘cantare’, to sing. For the eight-minute piece Carving, there exists a ‘ritualistic’ image similar to that of Kafka’s In the Penal Colony, where an intricate carving device inscribes the Condemned prisoner’s sentence onto his flesh. The whole affair of ‘Ritual’ is bound to leave listeners mesmerized by its vividness and bewitched by its intensity.

The album ships today, September 30th, so to commemorate the occasion –

Paul Fiocco and Kane Ikin were kind enough to take some time out of their schedule to discuss some of the elements of the album with Fluid Radio, preview some upcoming work and share some insights into their collaborative process.

The wildlife recording on the album seems to have a strong sense of character – did it all come from the same place, or was it from a collection of accumulated material?

SA: The wildlife recordings more or less all come from a place called Injidup (a remote part of Western Australia). They were recorded during mid-summer. The location is very close to Canal Rocks, which was used for a track on the 12k release. Come to think of it, it was the same location that was used for “Woods, Flesh, Bone”.

Was there a deliberate attempt to capture a tone, or did the mood develop as you worked? Were you surprised at the end result, or did you have it planned out?

SA: I think at the very beginning we were preparing ourselves for the idea that the record would have two very different sounds as far as tone or mood is concerned but I guess after working together this long we’ve developed a kind of Solo Andata aesthetic that comes out in the end, even when we approach writing from radically different places in regards to everything from what equipment we use to our sound sources.

I don’t think we ever had a definitive plan when were writing… though saying that, it was fairly clear early on that it was going to be a ‘dark’ record, but that was never a locked in idea for the record… just how it seemed to progress as we wrote it.

I’ve got to ask – the press release mentions “the vibration of human cancerous cells” as an organic sound used on the album. Can you expand on this?

Paul: Those sounds are from a very sensitive microscope that converts nano-mechanical motion data into sound. And the cells, which were oscillating at a strange and erratic frequency, were human bone cancer cells.

Kane, the credits list the last track as being yours, and the first three as Paul’s. Did both of you develop the pieces separately then work on them together? Or did you both bring finished pieces to the table?

Kane: The process was slightly a combination of both.

With our previous records we’ve always worked partly together and partly in isolation, relying on FTP-ing files back and forth with a constant stream of emails and phone calls in-between… after two records I think we needed a break from this method and at the time it was going to be impossible for us to record in the same space. So the conclusion we came to was to work on the record mutually but individually – with the vinyl format being an integral part in this, setting up the idea of two sides and a duality in sound. This is of course after Desire Path had contacted us and piqued our interest of a vinyl exclusive release…

I think the original idea was to have two sides operating on a positive/negative kind of vibe, like High fidelity vs. Low fidelity. Paul had just purchased a new super high quality recorder and I had been experimenting a lot with very old records and recordings. At that stage Incantare was actually two separate songs which were later edited and joined together with a third song to create one long ‘movement/journey’ with a focus on repetition with trance like hypnotic elements. Paul heard it in all its various stages, adding his thoughts on it along the way, though never actually involved in its creation. When Paul shared his songs with me I’d offer my opinions in much the same way. I like that despite our ‘separateness’ the record still works as a whole and has a fairly consistent sound even though we were using radically different techniques.

The album artwork is striking – does it have a particular significance to the intent behind the album?

SA: The artwork stems from the title ‘Ritual’, which in turn came from our own conversations and interpretations of the record, which to our ears had a ritualistic feeling… For example I really wanted Incantare to have elements of the kind of trance like states people would get into in pagan rituals and the like.

At the same time we were looking at images for the artist Chris Koelle to consider for his illustration, we sent him a whole combination of images from old mythological illustrations to photos from cult ceremonies and a few photos by Barbara and Michael Leisgen… Chris’s own interpretation of our records as well as some of the ideas and concepts from those images resulted in the album artwork. Two hands in ritual, holding the sky.

Did the record develop any characteristics in mastering? Were any elements enhanced or minimized in the process?

SA: James did a stellar job, we were asked if we had any special instructions for him, but our instincts were to trust his judgment. He’s worked with a lot of people we admire, so it was very easy to sit back and relax and wait for the finished product. We’re always surprised at how much a good mastering engineer can get out of something… I couldn’t say if anything specifically was enhanced or minimized… he just made it all sound, right. One thing worth noting is that the digital and the vinyl have had separate masters produced optimally for each version. We had both pushed a lot of crazy low end into our mixes that if left as they were would have flung the needle out of the groove on the vinyl version. James managed to sculpt and tame those frequencies without loosing any of the ‘sound’ we were going for.

How did the relationship with Desire Path develop?

SA: I think it all started with an email from Michael Vitrano to our MySpace expressing interest in us releasing on his proposed label exclusively to vinyl. We had yet to release anything on vinyl, which had always been a secret dream of ours… so it was a no brainer. Plus he was super easy to work with and had excellent choices in labels as his reference points to what he wanted to establish (e.g. 12k, type)

Your Facebook page mentions you now live in the same time zone – are you both in close proximity to each other, or is the internet the conduit?

SA: We’re a lot closer, about 2000km’s closer. But we still live in different cities (Melbourne and Sydney) so the internet is most definitely still the conduit. Luckily the internet is getting better and faster in Australia, so that is becoming less and less of a problem. In saying that though I’d like to think this is the last record we do long distance.

Is there a tour planned to coincide with the album launch?

SA: At the end of Paul’s studies this year I think we’ll embark on a quick tour of Australia’s east coast (Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne) and hopefully early to mid next year we’ll finally get back to New York and then over to Europe and Japan. The hardest part about being an Australian artist is the distance from everything and the cost. Touring anywhere – even locally in this giant spread out country – gets very expensive.

When you do play live, is it a replication of what you have recorded or do you improvise?

SA: An improvised replication maybe?  We use the same instruments a lot of the time, so it always has a similar ‘sound’. I think replicating anything we’ve previously recorded would be next to impossible with just the two of us, unless we had it all as separate loops or something in our computers, but that’s something that’s never been of interest for us. Our aim is to perform, live. So 9 times out of 10 we’re just using our computers as glorified loop pedals and effects… One day we’ll ditch the computers all together!

What can you tell us about “Live In Tokyo”?

SA: Earlier this year we had an opportunity to play an amazing show with Taylor Deupree, Minamo, Sawako and Moskitoo in two incredible buildings, an old Japanese Temple in Komyoji near Roponghi, which is probably the most remarkable venue we’ve ever played in and in an old school hall designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The recordings from these shows will come out later his year on 12k. We’re pretty excited about it. We hadn’t played together in about 6 months, hadn’t really rehearsed, weren’t super familiar with what we’d each brought to play as far as instruments and objects and despite all that pulled off probably our best live performance. So yeah, very excited for the release of that.

What other offerings are in the wings that you can discuss?

SA: Aside from Ritual, there’s a remix we did for Hessien’s new record, Kane’s started working with David Wenngren of Library Tapes & Murralin Lane on a new record and a documentary Kane composed the soundtrack for will be coming out early next year, called Anatomy: Face by Adele Wilkes.

- Interview by Alex Gibson for Fluid Radio

Orders for ‘Ritual’ are available from Desire Path Recordings

www.desirepathrecordings.com
www.solo-andata.com
www.myspace.com/soloandata
www.12k.com

Solo Andata Exclusive by Fluid Radio on Mixcloud

With the new Solo Andata release ‘Ritual’ now available for pre-order we thought this would be the perfect time to re-post the mix that Kane put together for us some time ago containing unreleased material and a killer track list…

Paul Fiocco (b. 1984) and Kane Ikin (b. 1982) live and work out of separate states in Australia. Solo Andata began in 2006 with their debut album Fyris Swan on Chicago label Hefty records. Paul lives in Perth, Western Australia, and is a graduate in philosophy. Kane lives in Melbourne, Victoria, and is a graduate in sound from the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts. Solo Andata’s compositions are created through the collaboration of sound from organic materials, field recordings, and instruments.

Track List:

Donato Wharton – The End of the American Century
Grouper – Invisible
Eduard Artemyev – Meditation (stalker)
Kevin Drumm – More Blood Than Guts -
Simon Scott – Spring Stars
Diane Cluck – Snake
Fennesz – Circassian
Joy Division – The Eternal
The Fun Years – My Lowville
Mogwai Remix – Drive
Solo Andata ( Ryuichi Sakamoto Remix) – Chorale (look for me here)
Jana Winderen – Live In Japan
Tomasz Bednarczyk – So
Svarte Greiner – Ocean Out Of Wood
Jonny Greenwood – Open Space
Paul Fiocco – Fingernails
Akira Soundtrack/Geinoh Yamashirogumi – Requiem
Fabulous Diamonds – Four
Taylor Duepree – Worn
Viktor Bermon – Unprepared
Solo Andata – Jetty On The Baltic (unreleased)
Solo Andata – Livid Walls Of Thought Possible (unreleased)
Kane Ikin – Atlantis Lost (unreleased)
+ various field recordings

Ritual Review:

‘Ritual’ is Solo Andata’s third full-length album and also the inaugural release for the Buffalo-based label, Desire Path Recordings…

Solo Andata certainly need little introduction here – their previous albums, Fyris Swan and their eponymous effort from 2009, are well known around these parts. Their most recent work has been awaited by many, and points to a continuing maturation in sound. Their willingness to hide their light under a bushel (to push the component elements almost completely to an inaudible level at points) is a risk rewarded, and displays a confidence in their listeners that is sure to be appreciated by the ones who “get” this approach.

The four tracks that comprise this release are labelled as ‘sonic topographies’, and that’s accurate – they create a sense of place and location, mainly achieved with the very vivid wildlife and environmental recordings that occupy much of the record. The further elements that make up this architecture are described as organic sounds – such as primitive gongs, bells and bowls, sacred chants, cleavers, and prepared piano. The release also make mention of use of “the vibration of human cancerous cells”, which fairly boggles the mind and deserves an explanation of some sort, surely?

The mix is in most instances fairly minimal; there’s a good balance of build and decay, and the tracks peak in intensity effectively. It sees a strong cinematic lean – it’s not hard to imagine it as soundtrack to a number of film genres.

It went with me on a drive through the bush early in the day, and the start of the record put me in mind of someone waking in the outback in the morning – possibly amnesiac, not knowing how they arrived there, and slowly making their way through grey terrain. You can hear them finding abandoned homesteads on their way, all human life gone, a total mystery; a post-apocalyptic whodunit.

That’s not to paint it as too grim, but there is certainly an eerie air to it. Plenty of restrained menace, and a high level of energy and intrigue also.

“Aggregate” is a slow burn as an opener, instantly identifiable as wilderness recording. The insect noise appears to be the catalyst for the instrumentation, following its timbre and building to piercing drone amongst the blowflies and cicadas. It is a demanding listen, not background noise by any stretch of the imagination. The intensity does fade towards the tail end of the track, leading nicely into the next. Certainly a good ear opener, and it sets the tone well.

“Carving” is a collection of metallic tones that swirl around the speakers, accompanied by low-level static and rustling buzz. If I was to continue with the lost amnesiac/post-apocalyptic theme, this would be the arrival in a deserted town, accompanied with howling wind.

The overall recording quality is very apparent here – when the surges in the track recede, the space in the mix is quite noticeable. The mastering by James Plotkin is worth mentioning in a very favorable light. Production on the album is clearly considered, and the mixing is a strong point.

“Myrmercia” is passing through town, onto the road again. There’s a desolate tone to this one, like decay has set in and is visible in the environment. A lot of the high tone droning feels as though it’s coming from a distance, from a point not quite visible yet but in the immediate vicinity. The track clocks in at five minutes, the shortest on the record.

“Incantare” is the epic closer, weighing in at a considerable twenty minutes. To conclude the cinematic metaphor, the visuals to this one would be the arrival at the destination. Easy to imagine a deserted city with scattered bird flocks and wandering wildlife at street corners, no evidence of any occupied metropolis here at all. The track title apparently translates as ‘to chant’ (a magical spell upon), which derives from ‘in’, into, unto and ‘cantare’, to sing. It’s listed in the credits as being written by Kane Ikin, with the previous three credited to Paul Fiocco. This track does seem to have a different texture to it, whilst still matching the mood of the others; if anything there seems to be a more musical tone to this track, whereas the ones preceding it had very much been audio architecture.

The vocal samples, feedback and clattering gongs in the very far distance fade in to almost total silence in the middle, before a heartbeat brings the protagonist back to life. Whilst driving, the intricacies of this piece faded away behind engine noise, and it wasn’t until I had a good listen to it with headphones later that night that the intent behind it became clear. This has some downright disturbing undertones to it, and if the hero of the piece is coming to his destination, it doesn’t sound like a happy ending.

Overall? The work is still unmistakably Solo Andata, but points to a more defined, cinematic approach whilst still retaining and refining the minimalist qualities that marked previous releases.

Ritual is being released on vinyl in limited quantities – 450 regular LP’s, and 50 Limited Art Edition with hand-made copperplate etching, each print inked by hand and printed by Christopher Koelle, released this month on September 30th. There is also an “Edition of One” release on the site for those with several hundred dollars to spare, and a burning desire for completism.

Desire Path also mention that anyone who preorders the “Ritual” LP from their website will get a free, immediate download of the album as well as the high-resolution cover art and desktop wallpaper images.

- Review by Alex Gibson for Fluid Radio

Track List:

Aggregate – 6:05
Carving – 8:37
Myrmecia – 4:42
Incantare – 20:10

Pre-orders available from Desire Path Recordings

www.desirepathrecordings.com
www.solo-andata.com
www.myspace.com/soloandata
www.12k.com

‘Ritual’ is Solo Andata’s third full-length album and also the inaugural release for the Buffalo-based label, Desire Path Recordings…

Solo Andata certainly need little introduction here – their previous albums, Fyris Swan and their eponymous effort from 2009, are well known around these parts. Their most recent work has been awaited by many, and points to a continuing maturation in sound.  Their willingness to hide their light under a bushel (to push the component elements almost completely to an inaudible level at points) is a risk rewarded, and displays a confidence in their listeners that is sure to be appreciated by the ones who “get” this approach.

The four tracks that comprise this release are labelled as ‘sonic topographies’, and that’s accurate – they create a sense of place and location, mainly achieved with the very vivid wildlife and environmental recordings that occupy much of the record. The further elements that make up this architecture are described as organic sounds – such as primitive gongs, bells and bowls, sacred chants, cleavers, and prepared piano. The release also make mention of use of “the vibration of human cancerous cells”, which fairly boggles the mind and deserves an explanation of some sort, surely?

The mix is in most instances fairly minimal; there’s a good balance of build and decay, and the tracks peak in intensity effectively. It sees a strong cinematic lean – it’s not hard to imagine it as soundtrack to a number of film genres.

It went with me on a drive through the bush early in the day, and the start of the record put me in mind of someone waking in the outback in the morning – possibly amnesiac, not knowing how they arrived there, and slowly making their way through grey terrain. You can hear them finding abandoned homesteads on their way, all human life gone, a total mystery; a post-apocalyptic whodunit.

That’s not to paint it as too grim, but there is certainly an eerie air to it. Plenty of restrained menace, and a high level of energy and intrigue also.

“Aggregate” is a slow burn as an opener, instantly identifiable as wilderness recording. The insect noise appears to be the catalyst for the instrumentation, following its timbre and building to piercing drone amongst the blowflies and cicadas. It is a demanding listen, not background noise by any stretch of the imagination. The intensity does fade towards the tail end of the track, leading nicely into the next. Certainly a good ear opener, and it sets the tone well.

“Carving” is a collection of metallic tones that swirl around the speakers, accompanied by low-level static and rustling buzz. If I was to continue with the lost amnesiac/post-apocalyptic theme, this would be the arrival in a deserted town, accompanied with howling wind.

The overall recording quality is very apparent here – when the surges in the track recede, the space in the mix is quite noticeable.  The mastering by James Plotkin is worth mentioning in a very favorable light. Production on the album is clearly considered, and the mixing is a strong point.

“Myrmercia” is passing through town, onto the road again. There’s a desolate tone to this one, like decay has set in and is visible in the environment. A lot of the high tone droning feels as though it’s coming from a distance, from a point not quite visible yet but in the immediate vicinity. The track clocks in at five minutes, the shortest on the record.

“Incantare” is the epic closer, weighing in at a considerable twenty minutes. To conclude the cinematic metaphor, the visuals to this one would be the arrival at the destination. Easy to imagine a deserted city with scattered bird flocks and wandering wildlife at street corners, no evidence of any occupied metropolis here at all. The track title apparently translates as ‘to chant’ (a magical spell upon), which derives from ‘in’, into, unto and ‘cantare’, to sing. It’s listed in the credits as being written by Kane Ikin, with the previous three credited to Paul Fiocco. This track does seem to have a different texture to it, whilst still matching the mood of the others; if anything there seems to be a more musical tone to this track, whereas the ones preceding it had very much been audio architecture.

The vocal samples, feedback and clattering gongs in the very far distance fade in to almost total silence in the middle, before a heartbeat brings the protagonist back to life. Whilst driving, the intricacies of this piece faded away behind engine noise, and it wasn’t until I had a good listen to it with headphones later that night that the intent behind it became clear. This has some downright disturbing undertones to it, and if the hero of the piece is coming to his destination, it doesn’t sound like a happy ending.

Overall? The work is still unmistakably Solo Andata, but points to a more defined, cinematic approach whilst still retaining and refining the minimalist qualities that marked previous releases.

Ritual is being released on vinyl in limited quantities – 450 regular LP’s, and 50 Limited Art Edition with hand-made copperplate etching, each print inked by hand and printed by Christopher Koelle, released this month on September 30th.  There is also an “Edition of One” release on the site for those with several hundred dollars to spare, and a burning desire for completism.

Desire Path also mention that anyone who preorders the “Ritual” LP from their website will get a free, immediate download of the album as well as the high-resolution cover art and desktop wallpaper images.

- Review by Alex Gibson for Fluid Radio

Track List:

Aggregate – 6:05
Carving – 8:37
Myrmecia – 4:42
Incantare – 20:10

Pre-orders available from Desire Path Recordings

www.desirepathrecordings.com
www.myspace.com/soloandata