‘Duende’ by zeug
Exclusive video premier of ‘Duende’ from upcoming album ‘Grounded’ by drone doom band zeug.
Founded in 2016, zeug has been an ever evolving collective which has achieved a variety of sound structures. Since spring 2020 zeug consists of Vladislav Overchuk (RU), Benjamin Nash (GB) and Lorenzo Barbieri (IT). Following the groups traditional methods of creative soundscapes and wide musical textures – zeug started to construct new pieces throughout April 2020. From the foundations of 10 new improvisations, emerged three solid compositions which became their new album -‘Grounded’ – an album, which follows the previous release ‘Low’.
When producing the album zeug had strict requirements to record the pieces live in an unusual sonic environment – after researching various spaces in and around Berlin the decision fell on the ancient water reservoir, built in the middle of 19th century in the heart of Prenzlauer Berg – Wasserspeicher. It was important for the recordings to be produced live, with no additional effects or production magic added in post, what you hear is what you get, in order to experience the compositions in the purest of forms.
While preparing for the record and reading more about the history of the Wasserspeicher, zeug found out that in 1930s the location was used as an execution prison for the members of German Resistance. By a chance, the recording session became an act of the space reappropriation.
For the central song of the EP – Duende – the band invited two performers (Sandra Bourdonnec and Phoenix Chase-Meares) and two camera operators (Fritz Tsai and Dhanesh Jayaselan) to produce an improvised audio visual art piece, with Barak Shem-Tov as sound producer. Each participant was given almost limitless freedom of expression, with the band acting as musical mediators, creating the sonic foundations for the performers. Therefore, what started as just the next EP of zeug, merged into a complex synthetic piece of art.
As its core ideal zeug praises freedom of expression and power of improvisation. Throughout this process, time and space took over and became the main influencers, which solidified the music pieces. By letting the acoustics of Wasserspeicher (with it’s 4-5 second decay time and concrete reflections) play a significant role in the sound. zeug unintentionally set the architectural and historical context free to shape the music itself.
Unlike the space, the music doesn’t have ruins, but it can definitely correspond with the physical surroundings of the human world, re-imagine them and give them new meanings. How exactly all these factors correspond with each other is still unknown for the band members – thus, the space for interpretation and perception of this music remains almost boundless for the listener. Here, zeug roughly envisions this direction.
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