Lucie Vítková and Teerapat Parmongkol met in May 2021 in New York to improvise and record music, using the instrumentation of an electric guitar (Parnmongkol) and synthesizer (KORG Volca Bass), harmonica, hichiriki, and voice (Vítková). Since then, they have performed under the name Seminar Shadow, a duet whirling in a seminar (sonic) shadow, dancing themselves in continuous inconsistency between being and becoming.
Their music is influenced by experimental music, noise, jazz, rock, metal, and folk music (Czech, Isan/Morlam). The music varies according to the places they play, and they have performed at Wonderville (Uneven Geographies), Sunview Luncheonette, Living Gallery (Undisclosed Locations), Bop Dubu (Nolja), Nha Minh, and Scholes Street Studio (Infrequent Seams Festival).
‘HEATWAVE’ (for two pianos), is Seminar Shadow’s first album where they portray their relationship through acoustic instruments. It was recorded on two baby grand pianos (Steinway and Baldwin) at the Red Hook Oversea Recording studio, a beautiful and evocative space which has since ceased operation, during one of the hottest days of the blistering NYC heatwave in August of 2022. These two expansive and cutting statements, Luring (22 min) and Heatwave (24 min), display an intimately developed and potently ontological approach to improvisation and interplay.
“Liveness as in a self-organization in action can’t detach or distinguish from skeleton of memory. A wave of heat is rinsing out inseparably within this heat, where the liveliness is revealing itself as a part of motion and movement that lives through this instinctual response to the environment around it. This recording cultivates and captures the "heat" response to vibration that has been embodied for over a century of existence.
Within these units of time, we only experience this bit of memory that exists inside our bones of instinct, which heats up our sensory perception and activates that feeling of yearning for the infinite. It is unstoppable, but the desire is genuine, which makes sense if we are listening.”
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Teerapat Parnmongkol is an artist, musician, poet and audio engineer who works with sound, visuals, performance, installation, poetry, improvisation, and composition. Teerapat is interested in the roles of listening, memory perception, musical embodiment, and time-space in musical events. Born in Sakon Nakorn, Thailand. Based in Brooklyn, New York City.
Lucie (Luk) Vítková is a composer, improviser, and performer (accordion, hichiriki, synthesizer, harmonica, voice, and dance) from the Czech Republic, living in New York. Their compositions focus on sonification (compositions based on abstract models derived from physical objects), while in their improvisation practice, Lucie works with the characteristics of discrete spaces through the interaction between sound and movement. In Luk’s recent work, they are interested in the social-political aspects of music in relation to everyday life and in reusing trash to build sonic costumes and instruments.
credits
released March 24, 2023
Album cover art – photo and design – by Lucie Vítková
Press photo by Lucie Vítková
Music by Lucie Vítková and Teerapat Parnmogkol
Mix and Master by Teerapat Parnmogkol
My humanities professor showed me this piece and i cannot stop coming back to it. Something deep and alluring of this piece keeps me wanting more. Absolutely one of my favorite cuts from last year. Ra!
The second EP from Northern Irish singer-songwriter Bea Stewart runs from gentle folk to pillowy pop ballads, all perfectly executed. Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 15, 2024
