LA MELIA, Tiziana; SAM, Ellis
Kletic Kink

Kletic Kink refers to the kletic hymn, a poetic song of praise, prayer or plea that appears in Greek Tragedies, addressed to either a deity or to “non-divine” beings, such as mortals, creatures from the animal kingdom or elements of the natural world. “Kink” here refers to material ruin, spiritual (bypassing) or “mend-narrative” kinks.

Airy rave beats pulled out of the ether. Cat-like purrs in the range of self-repair. Poetry is read to a click track, pitched up or put through the vacuum tube. Sounds and rhythms are grafted together by search engine sonics. Field recordings from a garden evoke lived experiences, places, spills and “windfalls” — juicy pears bounce off the hot tin roof, the rattle of poppy seeds inside desiccated flower heads, the hum of surrounding machinery and the crackle of eggshells meeting soil and seashells. Expanses of time and location are expanded on by stock-free sound effects that augment this fantasy — church bells and oscillating pitch and siren. Beats feed the body, forward. Drama is evoked through the harmonic doubling of vocals to create a harmonic effect akin to a chorus. The music sits on a spectrum, not background in character but interactive and narrative, adding an expanse of time and location, imagining the feeling of being in the bathroom at a nightclub, and the liveliness of a voice memo while wiping mascara away from the eyes onto denim jeans.

Written, recorded, and composed on the unceded xʷməθkʷəy̍əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and səlilwətaɬ Territory (Vancouver) and the unceded Syilx territories (Okanagan).

The sleeve features artwork by Nils Alix-Tabeling and Alison Yip.

[publishers’ note]

Published by Tender Press, 2022
Design by Victoria Lum
Poetry / LPs & EPs