***update: Alan Sparhawk (core member of hugely influential group LOW) will be joining Matchess on this date!!!
A trio of forward thinking Chicago-based artists led by Whitney Johnson, whose work focuses on the mysterious relationship between sound and the human psyche. Like minded luminaries Jenny Pulse and Circuit des Yeux complete the group, who are on tour celebrating the release of their new lp on Drag City Records. Local support IDYL, of Blackplate, Duff Struggler fame. -- Bar opens at 6pm for Tacos. Music after 8pm. Early Show. 21+
Matchess “Hav/Stena” Tour July 2024
In anticipation of alter ego albums Hav/Stena to be released on Drag City in Fall 2024, Matchess (AKA Whitney Johnson) enlists Haley Fohr (AKA Circuit des Yeux) and Jenny Pulse to turn down the energetic temperature and settle into a mellow expansion of sound. With three marimbas, sine waves, viola, voices, and electronics, the trio will invite us to experience sonic doubles in our bodies and minds. Their individual practices in experimental music, sound art, and performance will invoke the “two against three” principle to alchemize a fresh collaboration on this tour of the American South and West.
Whitney Johnson is an artist based in Chicago who uses sound to explore relationships between bodies and minds. As Matchess, she composes, performs, and installs multi-channel sound from the viola, voice, sine waves, tape looping, and field recording. In tandem with her sound practice, she received her doctorate in the sociology of sound from the University of Chicago in 2018 and begins as Assistant Professor of Sound Practices at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in August 2024.
Haley Fohr is a vocalist, composer and singer-songwriter based in Chicago, Illinois. Her musical endeavors focus around our human condition, and her 15-year career as Circuit des Yeux has grown into one of America’s most successful efforts to connect the personal to the universal. She is most distinctly identified by her 4-octave voice and unique style of 12-string guitar. Fohr has released 5 commercially released albums to international acclaim. Her stage performance as Circuit des Yeux has won her slots at world renowned music festivals such as Roskilde (DK), MOOG Festival (US), Pitchfork Festival (US), OFF Festival (PL), Sydney Festival (AUS) and more. She is currently represented by Matador Records.
Jenny Pulse is a producer and performer based in Chicago. Her current collaboration with Tim Kinsella draws on years spent making thoughtful and unpredictable art, whether musically as Joan of Arc or Spa Moans, or under their given names as writers and visual artists. As a painter, performance artist, and electronic producer, she brings an interdisciplinary perspective to each aspect of her practice. Catch Jenny on tour in 2024 in support of the recent release "Giddy Skelter" on Kill Rock Stars.