Borders

Borders

Emptyset is the innovative electronic duo of James Ginzburg and Paul Purgas.<br>The duo composes within a complex set of self-imposed parameters or rule<br>sets and the results of their expeditions on Borders are at once minimal and<br>visceral. Focusing on shifting timbral changes over melody, Emptyset s work is<br>an exploration of the relationship between rhythm, texture and space.<br>The pair shares a history in Bristol s underground music scene as well as an<br>impressive list of production credits. Ginzburg, now Berlin based, runs a<br>network of record labels including electronic music label Subtext and Arc<br>Light Editions, whose reissues include a work by Arthur Russell. He s a prolifi<br>producer and remixer for both independent and major labels, with diverse<br>projects such as Faint Wild Light, Ginz and more recently Bleed Turquoise.<br>Purgas, now based in London, founded the We Elude Control label in 2009,<br>a curated collection of rare experimental music. Purgas is an artist, writer and<br>curator who has presented projects with Tate, Whitechapel and Serpentine<br>Galleries, and he is also an active promoter of electronic music in eclectic<br>spaces from a carpark to a Modernist pavilion.<br>Each project s framework and parameters dictate how the sound or performance<br>evolves. In the past, Emptyset have explored the ways in which the sonic<br>and spatial interact within different architectural contexts: often site-specifi<br>locations such as the decommissioned Trawsfynydd nuclear power station in<br>North Wales, or the neo-gothic Woodchester Mansion. Borders takes a different<br>approach, centering around the performative and the performer. Having each<br>created their own tactile instruments, a six-stringed zither-like instrument and<br>a drum, Emptyset focuses on how organic sounds interact with the analogue<br>processes that have defied their work to date.<br>Contrasting typical approaches to making electronic music, Emptyset set out<br>to emphasize live performance rather than creating sequences within devices.<br>While Purgas and Ginzburg utilize vintage analogue electronics, compressing<br>and distorting the signals, the album itself is performed entirely live, where<br>subtle movements make for substantial changes in sound.<br>From the very fist track, Body, one can hear how the physicality of the<br>instruments have imbued the sound s texture. The physical characteristics of<br>the metal strings create a layer of dynamic juxtaposition to the grinding timbres<br>emerging around them. The broody Ascent, features the album s clearest<br>call-and-response between the stringed instrument and the drum, barking and<br>thudding back and forth at one another. Evident in tracks such as Border <br>and Speak, Emptyset uses basic rhythmic structures drawn from an array of<br>broad cultural practices, expressed neutrally and without overemphasis on the<br>source. Taken as a whole Borders distills the duo s inspirations to their essence<br>and the resulting music is as raw as it is captivating.