Matinee

A Matinee is the first collaborative full-length from Kyle Bates and Lula Asplund. All at once intimate and expansive, dense and diaphanous, it is perhaps best thought of in terms of pilgrimage. In August, 2021 Bates and Asplund trekked to the Unknown, the famed destination church-turned-studio in Anacortes, WA co-owned by Phil Elverum (The Microphones / Mt. Eerie) and engineer Nich Wilbur. With Wilbur at the controls, Bates and Asplund executed A Matinee in one afternoon, using an array of instruments and devices ranging from a Casio SK-1 and a homemade Glockenspiel to computer programs and niche modular synthesizers like the Buchla Easel. Bates and Asplund first met as students at the Mills College Center for Contemporary Music (fka the San Francisco Tape Music Center) where they studied with experimental luminaries Pauline Oliveros, Laetitia Sonami, James Fei, Zeena Parkins, Meredith Monk, and Christopher Davidson. It is from this milieu that the duo proceeds, and fans of any of these artists will appreciate A Matinee, as will anyone previously hypnotized by Asplund's phantasmagoric solo works for processed voice. But just as crucial to the sonic character of this record is the homespun spirit of the Pacific Northwest and it's rich history of DIY projects. Bates's granular computer processing of Asplund's voice nods to the aesthetics of that Mills College lineage; but by layering in the unmistakably lo-fi Casio SK-1 sampling, Bates and Asplund nod to the home recording warmth of early Smog, Mirah or any number of K Records artists. And Bates himself, with his Drowse project, has often experimented with such high / low blending, to great effect.