Che Chen is a violinist living in the Long Island of New York. Known for the high-mindedness with which he approaches art, his collaborators tend toward those playing conventional instruments in modern ways (most notably, Josef Van Wissem). The two tracks of his 7”, ‘Pulaski Wave (Violin Halo)/Newtown Creek Mirror Lag’, form a simple atonal abstract. By sawing repeating shapes out of his violin, Chen knits these repetitions to a coarse drone of pulsating electronics and tape dubs to affect something both unified and expressly figurative. Taken together, the 13 minutes of the record begins as a premise and ends in a variation, technically – but thematically, the effect is more like a figure reflected off the water, calm in time A and rippled in time B. No doubt an unusual listen for a 7” sit-down, the disc repays what it demands of your attention. What lies outside of this exchange remains unclear. Black vinyl in heavy paper sleeves. 300 copies.
Pilgrim Talk 7”
$7
HERE