KEDA - Hwal

KEDA is a duo project started in 2010 by electronic music composer Mathias Delplanque and geomungo player E'Joung-Ju. The two combine their instrumental practices in creating soundscapes that tend to reflect the Earth's movement rhythmically, in a time-lapse of 7 compositions.

After 6 years of performances, their first release entitled Hwal concentrates a broad selection of musical pieces, thoroughly sculpted into a coherent display of sonic crossings.

The geomungo has been praised throughout ancient Korean culture as a highly educational instrument that allows the variations in rhythm and structure of each player to be delivered in a very personal manner that gives space for broad stylistic variations.

On these grounds, it may seem easy to foresee the kind of music that two apparently contrasting approaches may produce. Yet the result is literally striking, the opening track Dali being marked by E'Joung-Ju's immersive plucking, similar to echoes of approaching thunder in what could be an overwhelmingly vast valley, slowly engulfed in electroacoustic interventions.

Concentrated on an interior process of sound articulation, Hwal is marked by the curiosity of both players and their willingness to explore new territories in an exercise that builds a contrasting bridge over time. This is most palpable on the third track Eobu Nolae, with it's surfacing brushes of electronic rhythms, overlapped with firm riffs of the geomungo, in the style of the early delta blues.

The true gem is the title track Hwal, a breach in the melodic continuity of their album, crafted with a more free improvisation approach.

With a wide palette of passages, ranging from dub oriented electronics to avant-garde interventions, this album is nothing short of a complex sonic documentary that assimilates both new and ancient textures in a rich format.

Stream/buy via bandcamp.

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