New music is out from Bloomington-Normal artists Stefen Robinson and Stephen Holliger—artists who play in similar sandboxes within the Twin Cities' experimental music scene.
Multi-instrumentalist Holliger, who plays as Swim Ignorant Fire, has put together a career retrospective album of his last 20 years of work. The album tracks various trends that have emerged throughout Holliger's musical journey—peaceful, wistful collections of sounds that come together to give each song fluidity. It features both natural sounds but also grinding electronica at times and it seems there is something hidden within each track.
On Oct. 1, Holliger will host a pre-release virtual party on Bandcamp, spinning tracks between conversation and musings from Holliger.
"Think of it like a time machine, but cheaper and way noisier," Holliger said.
The 13-track album will be out on CD on Oct. 3.
Robinson, or Yea Big, the moniker Robinson uses when releasing music, has been working on a first-ever collaborative project with Deerhoof drummer Greg Saunier called No Timing.
This album is a mediation on Jim O’Rourke’s Bad Timing (1997) and the pair alternatively interpret O’Rourke to produce something entirely new. The album utilizes diverse sounds layering in bass clarinet, guitar, gamelan and piano. It features three songs ranging from five to 22 minutes.
Swim Ignorant Fire’s new album is scheduled to be released Oct. 3 and is anticipation of fall programming in Bloomington-Normal with an Oct. 21 concert as part of pt.fwd's season at the McLean County Museum of History. Holliger will also play the Sugar Creek Arts Festival on Oct. 12. Yea Big and Saunier’s album is already available as a 12" vinyl LP and via digital download from Personal Archives.
