All I can really say is this is one you really need to explore without any ideas in terms of who they are and what they’re doing, just go in there with no prior knowledge or proffered opinion, don’t read this review, just go straight in there, play it loud and give it your full attention, you can only listen to this for the first time once, full attention is needed… This is excellent.

Witness Wounds (P/O Massacre + Tomorrow I Feel Wrong) – Witness Wounds (Arsenic Solaris) – In which Witness Wounds brew up an intensely claustrophobic brew of what sounds like free form improvised noise just for the glorious sake of noise – indeed it is just that, if the press release is to be taken as a piece of truthful intent; “Witness Wounds is where four singular musical voices collide to create something raw, unpredictable and deeply immersive. Formed by the meeting of two duos from distinct artistic worlds, the project blurs the lines between noise, free improvisation, performance and experimental music, resulting in a sound that is both visceral and meticulously crafted. On one side, Tomorrow I Feel Wrong unites Sara Trawöger and Kristin Gerwien, long-time collaborators known for their unique blend of poetic intensity and sonic experimentation. Since 2018, their work has spanned scenic concerts (Down Where the Trees Grow Together) and performance films (Sie Leiden Lieber Stumm), exploring voice, beats and atmosphere as tools to channel tension and emotion”.

It is visceral, not sure how meticulously crafted it is, it seems more of an instinctive thing than a crafted thing? It feels like something made by people who know what they’re doing, people who are in control of the noise being made, that it isn’t going to escape them, that they could reign it in with a moment’s knowing nod if they wanted to. Kind of hypnotic actually, those almost mechanical rhythms as the wind instruments blow within the dense mesh of it all. 

And then there’s the almost fragile nature of the thirty two minutes of Music For Mouse, a smouldering piece of quiet restraint that might just be the most intense piece of music on this rather fine self titled album; almost angelically intense, and that chance of pitch with that trumpet twenty five minutes in is just sublime, or is it a violin? It sounds stringed now everything else has given way to it. There’s a glorious chemistry here, a healthy respect for and of the space needed, no one is pushing to the front, these are rather fine musical conversations, they mesh together so well.  

This is a deeply rewarding set of collaborations, the other side feels rather different and yet, at the same time just right in the way it feels exactly the same. The possibility of sixteen and a half minutes of anticipation that is The Witness and the way it threatens to explode at any moment is something deliciously intense, it is as much sound art as it is music, don’t waste that first listen now, you can only listen for a first time once, don’t waste it, do it properly, next time around you are going to know where they’re going, you have no idea with this first listen and yes this is a review but no, I’m not going to spoil it other than to highly recommend you play it loud and give it full attention (and yes, it does feel like something to paint along to or with, especially in a live situation.    

“On the other side, P/O Massacre. the duo of Anton Ponomarev and Anton Obrazeena — has carved out a reputation across Europe’s experimental and noise scenes for their high-voltage performances. Combining guitars, amps, saxophone, electronics and unconventional objects, their sound is an explosive, ever-shifting force, documented on four albums including collaboration with Merzbow and Alex Buess (16-17). The four artists first crossed paths in 2021 at XCITING Festival in Stuttgart (where P/O Massacre duo performed), a meeting point for radical sonic practices. What began as conversations between kindred spirits soon evolved into a new collaborative venture. In early 2022, they gathered in Theatre Neben dem Turm in Marburg (Germany) for a three-week residency, working alongside sound engineer Andrey Gankin and visual artists Laura Salerno and Johannes Schropp. Through collective improvisation, deep listening and fearless sonic exploration, Witness Wounds was born”.

All I can really say is this is one you really need to explore without any ideas in terms of who they are and what they’re doing, just go in there with no prior knowledge or proffered opinion, don’t read this review, just go straight in there and give it your full attention….

Witness Wounds are:
Sarah Trawöger : drums, vocals, guitar, fx
Kristin Gerwien : vocals, percussion, guitar, synthetizer, flute, fx
Anton Ponomarev : saxophone, trumpet, electronics
Anton Obrazeena : guitar, electronics, drums, other sound 

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