Erik Griswold, Helen Svoboda & Chloe Kim Harness - Anatomical Heart

jazz

Apr 28

ERIK GRISWOLD, HELEN SVOBODA AND CHLOE KIM HARNESS THREE VOICES INTO A HARMONIOUS WHOLE ON ANATOMICAL HEART

Erik Griswold (prepared piano), Helen Svoboda (contrabass), Chloe Kim (drums)

The collaborative trio of Erik Griswold, Helen Svoboda and Chloe Kim are known for their spontaneous and vibrant soundscapes. Their debut release, Anatomical Heart, harnesses the unique timbres of prepared piano, bass, drums, and an array of collected objects to craft their distinctive sound. Recorded in the remote and inspiring locale of Harrigans Lane on the east coast of Australia, this album is a testament to the trio's ability to fuse their highly individualistic voices into a harmonious and exploratory musical language.

The album emerged from a week-long residency in April 2023 at the secluded Lagavulin chamber music hall, located on the property known for housing the Piano Mill. This time allowed the trio—Erik Griswold with his John Cage-inflected prepared piano techniques, Helen Svoboda's Nordic-tinged bass lines, and Chloe Kim's precise yet intense drumming—to explore and capture the essence of their sound. "Each day was spent recording free improvisations, followed by reflection and planning for the next day's session, all inspired by the surrounding national parks, granite formations, local birdsong, and even the wildlife," the group explains.

The resultant eight tracks are a distillation of hours of recordings, each piece crystallizing a specific musical idea that ranges from short catchy tunes ("Anatomical blues," "Wallaby") to deep pulsating grooves ("Rock song," "Tremble part 2"), glitchy rhythmic textures ("The mouse," "Ripples"), and themes of devastated romance ("Heart strings," "Bowed"). These tracks not only showcase the group's experimental and collaborative spirit but also serve as springboards for further elaboration in their live performances.

Anatomical Heart is more than just a musical trio; they are experimentalists who draw upon the spontaneity of the moment to create something truly unique. Born from a desire to explore and integrate their divergent musical backgrounds, the group has found a common language in the remote Australian bush. Their debut album invites listeners into their colorful and intricate sound worlds, offering an auditory journey influenced by nature and the unscripted interactions between prepared piano, bass, drums, and the natural acoustics of an isolated chamber music hall.

Album launch events:

28 April Melbourne Jazz Coop Launch (at JazzLab, Melbourne)

3 May Brisbane Launch at KEPK (in collaboration with Made Now Music)

Erik Griswold is a pianist, composer and sound artist working in improvised, contemporary classical, and experimental forms. For over twenty-five years he has explored the outer limits of the piano, in projects such as Ecstatic Descent (“powerful music that connects with both the natural with the spiritual,” Sequenza 21), The Piano Mill (“densely layered shimmering sonority,” Australian Stage), and 84 Pianos (“joyous and brilliant,” Limelight). His collaborations with Australian Art Orchestra include the Aria Nominated Water Pushes Sand and the recently premiered Jumping Yaks, at the MJC 40th Anniversary Concert.Originally from San Diego, and now living in Brisbane, Griswold performs as a soloist and collaborates with diverse musicians, artists, and scientists. He has received the Australia Council Fellowship in Music, the Michael Kieran Harvey Scholarship and several APRA AMCOS Art Music Awards, including “Work of the year: Dramatic (2022)” for Dragon Ladies Don’t Weep. His music can be heard on record labels ABC Classic, Room40, Mode Records, Cold Blue, Innova, Neuma, Move, Immediata and others. Together with Vanessa Tomlinson, Griswold forms the duo Clocked Out, who create original music for prepared piano, percussion, found objects, and toys. www.erikgriswold.orgDrummer
Helen Svoboda is a double bassist, vocalist and composer. Her work explores the melodic potential of the contemporary double bass, intricately weaving extended techniques and overtones with vocal tessitura to explore themes of sonic unity amidst abstract song-writing. “A musician who absolutely defies categorisation” (Andrew Ford – The Music Show, ABC), her performance practice emits a childlike, quirky energy, with a flair for "allowing difficult ideas to sound whimsical and free" (Kristin Berardi, AUS). Accolades include: 2023-24 Musica Viva Australia FutureMaker; 2023 MOMENTUM Commissions (Australian Music Centre); 2020 Freedman Jazz Fellowship (winner); 2020/21 Australian Art Orchestra Pathfinder; Helsinki International Artist Programme 2023 (recipient - supported by Australia Council for the Arts).
Chloe Kim (Yeajee Kim, 김예지) is one of Australia's foremost improvising musicians. Chloe constantly performs alongside legendary musicians, and her strength as an artist emanates in the setting of solo drum set performances. Since 2018, Chloe has performed solo at the Sydney Opera House, Powerhouse Museum, Art Gallery of New South Wales, and Museum of Old and New Art. In 2023 she performed 100 hours of solo drumming over 10 consecutive days at the ‘MONA FOMA’ festival in Tasmania. She also performed a live response to Do Ho Suh's Staircase-III installation at the Museum of Contemporary Art for Sydney Festival and composed/performed a score in the forthcoming documentary The Independents about the 2022 Australian Federal Election. To date Chloe has released 4 solo drum albums which have received media praise in the UK, France, and the United States. She was also a soloist in Jeremy Rose's APRA Art Music Award-winning work Disruption! The Voice of Drums, which featured at the Sydney Festival (2021) and Melbourne International Jazz Festival (2022).
Having completed a Bachelor’s degree in Jazz Performance followed by a Masters thesis in solo drum set performance, Chloe has been a passionate and beloved lecturer at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in the Drum Set faculty since 2021. Chloe wishes to describe her drumming by citing one of the lines from her research: "a propulsive quality in drumming performance characterised by a high level of intensity and precise execution of the musical details afforded by physical agility”.
“Anatomical blues” lays down an elemental chromatic motif with blues inflections, and surrounds it with a combination of snap pizzicato, harmonics and edgy rhythmic dialogue. As we move through the brief form, the groove becomes deeper while at the same time the interplay becomes more frenetic.
We created and recorded “Wallaby” in the idyllic pastoral countryside of Harrigans Lane. The studio features panoramic views out through the forest and across a meadow, where wallabies would often join us for our sessions, lending a chilled vibe to the proceedings.
The title “Rock song” refers to both the driving rhythmic feel of this piece, and also on the stunning rock formations of the Granite Belt of Queensland, where we created and recorded this music.
Beginning with the poetic cymbal and bell work of Chloe Kim, “Heart strings” opens into a spacious and moody soundscape. The interplay of Helen Svoboda’s bowed bass and Erik Griswold’s elliptical prepared piano lines reveal a romantic harmonic impulse.
In “The Mouse” we hear the trio in full glitch mode, tossing around organically interlocking rhythmic cells. From time to time the driving pulse is interrupted, giving way to a menacing plucked piano motif. Is that the mouse that kept Chloe awake?
Helen’s haunting bass melody leads us into “Bowed.” Framing her unfolding song is a sequence of slowly changing bowed piano drones, gradually shifting from minor to major. Underpinning it all is Chloe’s kaleidoscope of cymbal sounds, which finally gives way to an evocative drumming groove.
“Tremble part 2” presents a collage of overlapping groove patterns in bass and drums, with a slower moving piano pattern floating in the mix. We hear the three musical patterns coexist, with subtle variations developing and gradually diminishing.
The bubbling energy of “Ripples” bursts forth like stones dropping into a pond. The musical ripples evolve, gathering more and more colourful refractions, building momentum until they reach a sudden breaking point.