On the 12th of May Subtext Recordings released Fis & Rob Thorne‘s album: Clear Stones. In this incredibly special collaboration, the Māori sound artist Rob Thorne and the New Zealand born, Berlin-based electronic composer Fis dismantle boundaries in space, time, and genre, juxtaposing Thorne’s living, breathing practice with the weight of modern sound systems.

Made of wood, stone, bone and shell, the instruments of taonga pūoro (translating to ‘singing treasures’) include various oblique-style flutes, horns, percussion, and objects spun. Amongst the instrumentation deployed by Thorne on Clear Stones are the Pūtātara (conch horn), Pūrerehua (bullroarer), and Tumutumu Kōhatu (stone percussion), gifting this album with new sound shapes that are unconventional and completely addictive to the ear. In contrast to Thorne magical sounds, Fis sculpts bold new settings for the music, mired in deep bass and vast synthetic tones, at times pushing Thorne’s wood, stone, and bone into total transformative saturation. The conversation that emerges between these two artists encompasses technology and nature, computers and physical instruments, historical narrative, and the present, perceived secularity and sacredness, framing them all as aspects of one single, conscious whole.

As Boomkat describe the fine interplay between these two deft artists: It’s a dizzying and immersive experience to thread yourself thru, one that neatly dances around and plays into preconceptions that come with FIS’ music whilst rendering it at its most porous, naturalistic and open to elemental influence. You can hear it for yourself via this full stream thanks to The Wire and experience this transformative mix for Bleep full of original material.

Fis and Rob Thorne have just toured Europe in the lead up to the release including dates at Borderline Festival in Athens, Cafe Oto and Mondo Muzak festival in Milan.

Now booking Fis live + A/V and Fis & Rob Thorne: brandon [at] lb-agency.net