Bleep

Hydrangea is a record where writer/artist Holly Childs and sound artist Gediminas Žygus (formerly known as J.G. Biberkopf) take core concerns about political instability, unreliable narratives and historical revisionism and set them to bold experimental music.

Unsurprisingly given the subject matter, Hydrangea can be a turbulent listen at times. A fair few of the pieces here see enigmatic spoken poetry delivered over abrasive sonics pitched somewhere between drone, industrial and dark ambient. Elsewhere on the record we find tracks which spin out the sounds of trance and gabber in order to create grinding soundscapes. Even some of Hydrangea’s more withdrawn and shadowy numbers sound freighted - the eerie churn of ‘Chaos As Protection’, for instance.

However, for all of its confrontational aspects, Hydrangea is also a record full of beauty. The complex, cryptic writing here frequently throws up vivid clusters of language, and the music often drifts into passages of lush harmony influenced by the compositions of Maurice Ravel. ‘Hydrangea’s Just the Password Though, Right?’ is a harp-helmed highlight while ‘Blue Carbon, Intertidal’ closes the album with an arresting blend of prose-poetry, treated piano and shimmering washes of reverb.

On their debut LP Hydrangea, writer/artist Holly Childs and sound artist Gediminas Žygus deliver a collection of bold avant-garde soundscapes, synthetic sound designs and thought-provoking spoken-word pieces.