Holly Herndon

CAT#: RVNGNL24
January 21, 2014

Chorus is the new single from Holly Herndon, the inimitable artist and technologist responsible for 2012’s acclaimed album, Movement. Another evolution in her production technique, Chorus bridges multiple disciplines and spaces to blur the politic between natural and synthetic.

For “Chorus”, Herndon sampled her daily browsing experience, channeling YouTube, Skype and other audio sources across the web for data that freely forms atop a bumping beat. Much like online browsing, “Chorus” creates a coherent / incoherent experience from disparate conceptual and contextual sources.

“Chorus” continues Herndon’s emphasis on vocal processing, crafted with polyphonic passages from live vocal takes and re-synthesized instances of her own voice and those foraged and sampled. “Chorus” may come as a stylistic deviation from Movement, but more accurately continues Herndon’s practice outside of genre orthodoxy — a stratosphere where multiple styles and histories are experienced in her personal laptop space.

In contrast to the laborious studio effort that went into the a-side, “Solo Voice” was tracked in a single take. “Solo Voice” takes a rhythmic, polyphonic vocal effect customized by Herndon and spreads it across a spectrum of song to sputter for a unsettling minimalist accomplishment.

Chorus is a timely reminder ahead of Herndon’s next album that her universe is one meticulously crafted with each creative and technological discovery.

Holly Herndon’s Chorus is available now as a limited edition 12” and digitally. The vinyl version of Chorus is elaborately packaged in a jacket featuring a debossed “chorus” of spines. Around the release date Herndon will offer a web-based tool allowing users to compose their own version of “Chorus” around a browser based experience.