You may not know their names, but both Fhunyue Gao and Sven Kacirek have been key players in their respective music scenes for some time now. Based in Switzerland, Gao is a musician as well as a stage director and performer, meanwhile, Kacirek, and established musician in his own right, splits his time between Hamburg and Kenya. Between the two of them, they’ve collaborated with the likes of Nils Frahm, Shabaka Hutchings, Marc Ribot, John McEntire, Hauschka, and many more.
Their path towards releasing a full collaborative project together began through a chance meeting, with the two quickly realizing they shared an immediately connectable musical perspective, not to mention realizing the potential of combining their respective instruments, ranging from marimbas, drums, percussions, electronics, theremin, Buchla synthesizer to piano.
Their sessions together began as essentially tinkering for the fun of it between theater collaborations, but gradually grew into a purposeful, focused project, with the two genuinely locking themsleves into Kacirek’s Studio at Jaffestrasse in Hamburg and focusing entirely on what would become their debut album, Hoya.
Along with today’s announcement of the project, they’ve shared its first offering, the lingering, mysterious, but ultimately emotive “Bowie”, a song meant to embody the seemingly never-ending search for human connection, especially in our COVID-stricken, ever more divided world. It comes complete with an equally expressive, eerie video, which you can check out below.
Look out for Hoya come January 21st, 2022 via experimental German label Atlin Village & Mine.
You can find the duo on Bandcamp and Instagram.
Sven Kacirek is on Facebook and Instagram. Fhunyue Gao is on Instagram.
