Jesse Perlstein & Shinya Sugimoto + Glenda Bates/OboeTronics

Jesse Perlstein (of Sontag Shogun; US) & Shinya Sugimoto (JP) combine haunting vocals, field recordings, piano etudes, oscillator drones and digital algorithmic noise to create minimal soundscapes that blossom into lush nostalgia-tinged requiems. The balance between ambience and harmonic vox/keys swells give these improvised performances a feeling of intention and composition that reflects the long-standing collaboration the two artists have shared.
They will be performing material based from their forthcoming release, “I Confess,” a meditation on the mundane, and how repetition and context can reveal the strange beauty held in every passing moment. Field recordings collected from disparate places, of unremarkable moments are woven together to create a surreal perspective greater than the sum of its parts.
OboeTronics is an ongoing performance project featuring twenty-first century works for oboe and tape performed by oboe and English horn virtuoso, Glenda Bates. Bargello is a work by Daria Semegen, a recognized pioneer and leader in the field of electronic music composition. This work requires a true partnership between the composed music and the improvising soloist. Garden of Love, by self-described avant-pop composer, Jacob ter Veldhuis, incorporates poetry by William Blake in a cheerfully dark re-mix. Mazdak Khamda’s Tied Up is based on a poem by Rumi, includes the melody of Iranian folk song, Sari Galin, and incorporates improvisation. These composers provide vibrant electronic soundscapes with which the oboe plays.