Improvisation, as a skill, is extremely impressive to behold in a variety of creative contexts. While comedy may get a somewhat bad rap, improvisational music, usually in jazz-adjacent genres, is appropriately revered amongst nerds everywhere.
Australian musicians Alex O’Toole and Simeon Bartholomew are bringing this off-the-cuff spirit to a new collaborative math-rock album, titled n000000000.1. Each track on the record is the result of an improvised performance, never to be repeated, captured on tape for the first time.
Today, Everything Is Noise is pleased to premiere the debut single from n000000000.1, titled “Humour Me For A Moment”, along with an accompanying live music video. The track is just under three minutes of explosive, technically tight, twisting-turning improv that fans of any prog genres will enjoy.
O’Toole and Bartholomew have spent decades combined building up their chops in the Sydney prog and math scenes with groups like Meniscus, SEIMS, and Recalibrate. This shared history is especially present in the “Humour Me For A Moment” video, where the listener can witness the exact moment the track comes together in real time, along with O’Toole and Bartholomew’s nonverbal communication.
Watch “Humour Me For A Moment” below.
O’Toole explains a bit of the duo’s creative impetus behind their upcoming album, ‘We wanted to be a band that is about doing, not thinking. By only allowing ourselves improvisation, the music that emerges is instinctual, honest, and raw. A real-time realization of our influences and abilities.’
Bartholomew elaborates, ‘The ‘no point beyond the love of music itself’ is central to the n000000000 ethos, and over time we found that there was no point in keeping that love just to ourselves and to the few who may have attended a show. We are proud to have partnered with long time friends and collaborators Bird’s Robe to share these moments in music to a wider world.’
n000000000.1 will release on October 23 via Bird’s Robe Records. The limited-edition of 100 vinyl records will each also come with a unique drawing by Bartholomew as the cover art.
n00000000.1 credits:
All material on this album was improvised and recorded live at Adversary Studios, St. Peters.
Recorded, produced and mixed by Alex O’Toole & Simeon Bartholomew
Mastered by Tim Carr
Art and layout by Simeon Bartholomew
Words by Alex O’Toole
Special thanks to Mike Solo, Aaron Worboys, Papa Tim, Sally Mae, Melissa B, and the loop pedal
