UNWESEN Stefan Fraunberger / Joss Turnbull

UNWESEN

A sonic incantation.
Unwesen is a project from the minds and hands of Fraunberger and Turnbull. The two musicians assemble to create a hypnotic sonic language of strings and leather, finding relations between the organic and the mechanic. As Turnbull picks up on percussive sounds from the goblet drum to create new rhythms with his extended Tombak, Fraunberger is playing doom arpeggios and his own personal chaos on the grandmother of all hammered string instruments, the Santur. Heavy on percussion and spectral timbre the project explores how metal and leather blend into electromagnetic waves to find incantations, a barnstorming encounter between electroacoustic and instrumental, between improvised and machine-made structures.

Stefan Fraunberger - santur, electronics
Joss Turnbull - tombak, electronics

II

UNWESEN

One of the very well know instrumental duos in Iranian classical music - similar to the string quartet in Europe - is the combination of the hammered dulcimer Santur and the goblet drum Tombak. Frauenberger and Turnbull are revisiting the instrumental form but are investigating dialect and imprint on their singular sonic language that is influenced by their individual musical approach. Both are working with sound modulation and amplifications through electronics and effects which enables them to create a raw, immersive and vast scape of sound and suspense - a barnstorming and time bending sonic encounter of the two players and their instruments.

Stefan Fraunberger - santur, electronics
Joss Turnbull - tombak, electronics

Video Recording at Morphine Raum Berlin, February 2024
Sound Mix: Stefan Fraunberger
Video, cut: Joss Turnbull