Today we listen to Chra and Mokuhen‘s CHMO release out now on Tsuku Boshi. It is the second in a series that finds Tsuku Boshi’s Laurent Guérel, under his Mokuhen moniker, trading sound sources with a like-minded musician–in this case, the Vienna-based artist Chra (Christina Nemec). Last year Guérel teamed up with Zellum, the electroacoustic explorer Lucien Gaudion, and the result was ZeMo–three tracks that the pair described as more of a “collage” or “juxtaposition” than “conversation.” That sort of strategy seems to continue here with CHMO similarly called an “exchange and interaction on same one “sound sheet(leaf).”
Like Mokuhen, Christina Nemec’s work as Chra operates on the outer edges of sound production combining field recording and experimental processing into sonic forms that fill negative space with ambiance, noise, and drone. Nemec, who also plays in the post-punk trio Shampoo Boy with Peter Rehberg and Christian Schachinger, as well as with Patricia Enigl in Pasajera Oscura, also runs the label Comfortzone, is an author, DJ, and radio/TV presenter. Tracing her musical history back to the 80’s, in 2015 she explained to SHAPE, Europe’s “platform for innovative music and audiovisual art”:
“I’m originally a bass player. I’ve always been into very deep bass. We were inspired by Godflesh and Kevin Martin who’s now also doing this deep stuff. I also really liked Mick Harris from Napalm Death and Scorn.”
Nemec’s interest in low-end frequencies, noise, and negative space can really be heard on her 2015 LP Empty Airport (Editions Mego), as well as on this 2017 collaboration with Mokuhen. Across two long-from tracks, with each participant taking a turn with the source material, Chra and Mokuhen drift thru open-ended sonic realms while exploring sound texture and silence in fascinating ways.
