Patrick Graham & John Sellekaers - Unnatural
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.
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Patrick Graham: percussion improvisations
John Sellekaers: electronic manipulations
Recorded at Studio DeTour (Montreal, QC)
engineering by Dino Giancola (2007)
and Happyrock International (Chelsea, QC)
engineering by Ross Murray (2019)
Produced and mixed by John Sellekaers
Co-produced by Patrick Graham & Alexis Courtin
Mastered by Lawrence English at Negative Space
Artwork by Tamar Kasparian Vegetal Chaos
Design by John Sellekaers
The creation of this work was made possible thanks to the financial support of the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec
© Parenthèses Records, 2020 (PREC12)
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 - Full review)
* [...] 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 - Full Review)
* 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 - Full Review)
* 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 - USA - Full Review
* The idea for the 'Unnatural' published at Parenthèses Records came from 2007 and came from John Sellekaers working with electronics after meeting Patrick Graham in Montreal. However, it did not come to effect sooner than last year, but the result may be there for sure. A beautiful one. Voice dark record. (Nieuwe Notten, The Netherlands - Full Review)