press kit
“This avant-garde trio use piano, samples, and carefully skewered tapes to conjure an evocative sense of place. They drift to exquisite effect.”
photos
one sentence bio
Sontag Shogun is an experimental trio from Brooklyn & Montréal that builds textured collages of rising sonic intensity by blending minimal piano compositions with an evolving array of tapes, tones, vocals, effects, and a surprising number of kitchen utensils.
one paragraph bio
Sontag Shogun is an experimental trio from Brooklyn & Montréal that builds textured collages of rising sonic intensity by blending minimal piano compositions with an evolving array of tapes, tones, vocals, effects, and a surprising number of kitchen utensils. They first gained recognition for 2017’s critically acclaimed LP Patterns For Resonant Space (Youngbloods), as well as a number of festival performances across North America, Europe, and Asia (Frameworks, WOS, Eufonic, etc) and innovative collaborations with both multimedia artists (scent artists, dancers, videographers, filmmakers) and pioneering musicians like Julia Kent, Lau Nau, Moskitoo, Greg Fox, Christopher Tignor, Stijn Hüwels, and others. A deeply process-oriented group, Sontag Shogun is known for their live performances, organically crafting every sound of their songs from scratch in dynamic swells of noise, music, and ambience. Last year’s It Billows Up was a new direction, showcasing their organic live process in a studio setting and laying out a precedent of unrelenting evolution and experimentation in their recordings — one that they hope to continue through upcoming studio collaborations in 2020.
long bio
Sontag Shogun combines the minimalist piano compositions of Ian Temple with the explorative rhythms, tones, and textures of Jeremy Young and the tape loops and treated vocals of Jesse Perlstein. Founded as an outlet for their sonic restlessness while all three were performing regularly with post-rock group [the] slowest runner [in all the world], Sontag Shogun blossomed to life somewhere between the vaulted basement of a fog-wrapped barn in Flanders and the blackout box of a Berlin nightclub. They released their debut “tale” in 2014 — the result of experiments in sound and memory passed back and forth between London, Brooklyn, and Seoul and sculpted along the way.
They’ve spent the years since touring Europe, North America, and Asia, appearing on stage with performers like Hauschka, Christopher Tignor, and This Is Not This Heat, collaborating with artists like Julia Kent, Lau Nau, Stijn Hüwels, and Moskitoo, and performing at festivals like Frameworks Festival in Munich, Eufonic Festival in Barcelona, WOS Festival in Santiago de Compostela, the NY Art Book Fair at MoMA’s PS1, and Shanghai’s Jue Music & Art, among others.
A deeply process-oriented group, Sontag Shogun’s live performances involve organically crafting every sound from scratch on the stage, with piano tones, ethereal vocals, analog tones, and rhythmic textures combining to create a wall of sound that grows from evocative nostalgia to dynamic and rhythmic wall-of-sound intensity. They’re drawn to interactive partnerships, having toured with a scent artist, scored films live, collaborated with projectionists, and composed/performed live with original dance productions.
In 2017, their now sold-out first LP Patterns For Resonant Space was released via Youngbloods to critical acclaim, with favorable reviews in Pitchfork, A Closer Listen, and others, and hundreds of thousands of streams via Spotify and Apple Music. They followed it up with an ethereal 7” (Things We Let Fall Apart / The Thunderswan) made in collaboration with Japanese artist Moskitoo, whose floating vocals opened new angles on the group’s sound.
In 2019, they released a follow-up LP It Billows Up, an attempt to capture their live sound on record via a single continuous performance of seven interwoven instrumental tracks — a timestamp of their recent live experiences. It was released at a sold-out two-night run in June 2019 at Brooklyn’s Future Space, with spatialized audio mixing performed live in collaboration with audiovisual artists Dave & Gabe. Shortly after, they also released their Floréal EP on tape, including an epic collaboration with Finland’s Lau Nau on the 10 minute saga “Photographs on a Moving Car” — a collaboration that will continue in 2020 with an upcoming full-length.
reviews & press
“Sontag Shogun songs are like environments to float through, lost in hushed wonder.” Pitchfork review of Patterns For Resonant Space.
“Ian Temple, Jesse Perlstein, and Jeremy Young flaunt their haul with a blend of sentiment and swagger.” The Wire short review of It Billows Up.
“On It Billows Up, humanity meets the rest of nature and is given a musical score: disparate forces forming a fragile harmony. Sometimes the indescribable is better reflected in tone than in word.” A Closer Listen review of It Billows Up
Textura named It Billows Up the 11th best album of the year in any category for 2019.
“This said, its bizarre sounds and the way in which they are woven together is entirely unique—and through several listens you continue to hear more within its many layers. Throughout Sontag Shogun remain a strange and indefinable group that stands out on an increasingly homogeneous cultural landscape.” IINAG album review of It Billows Up
“What makes the album so compelling is the manner in which the real and the abstract are constantly juxtaposed and intertwined.” Stationary Travels review of It Billows Up.
“The merging of classical piano playing with laptop-generated textures, field recordings, and tape materials makes for a thoroughly captivating sound that’s Sontag Shogun’s alone.” Textura
“Before we start, let’s just call this album beautiful. Absolutely beautiful....the album’s ability to transport you and transfix you elsewhere is unique.” Louder Than War album review of “tale”
contact info
All inquiries can be directed to sontagshoguninfo@gmail.com.