Responses II

“We spent a whole afternoon in my living room. We did not play together, but took turns to record some short solo sessions, each one was seven minutes around. Every session could be seen as a response to the former one. After that Sun Yizhou selected and paired them as some duos, and I did the mixing work. Some sessions have not been used.” — Zhu Wenbo

Sun Yizhou (孙一舟) and Zhu Wenbo (朱文博), both living in Beijing, China, did the slightly unusual recording project at Zhu’s home in April 2022. That was about 7 minutes of performance by one person, and responding to the previous performance, the next one was performed. And the performances were repeated again and again. The solo recordings collected through these “responses” were mixed by Sun and Zhu, and formed the shapes of the pseudo duo sessions.
The sound of the no-input preamp by Sun has the character of distinctive undulations, and it also functions as a foundation in each session and always plays an important role. Zhu, on the other hand, uses a variety of musical instruments to add different colors to each session. By the exquisitely breathtaking performances and their developments, the fact that each sound was recorded separately would surprise us.

Sun Yizhou (孙一舟)
He mainly uses electronic devices such as: internal/external feedback systems, MAX/msp, and his innovative no-input preamp system… Also, he performs with objects, vocals, bodies, environments, and sometimes even just a specific conceptual art. He performing and recording both as a soloist and in collaboration with numerous other musicians.

Zhu Wenbo (朱文博)
Zhu Wenbo is involved in many different music projects. He uses clarinet, guitar, mandolin, microphone, speaker, tape, percussion and more, doing compositions, improvisations, songwriting, events and publications focused on ‘music unlike music’. He runs the cassette label Zoomin’ Night. In 2019 he played in Ftarri Festival in Tokyo.