TRANS VOICES founders ILĀ and Coda Nicolaeff have released their EP UN/BOUND.
Originally an installation commissioned by the Barbican Centre, UN/BOUND started life as a a sound installation created to ‘resonate beyond the gaze, embracing presence over spectacle’.
Now having been recorded as a stereo mix, the UN/BOUND EP gives listeners a chance to hear the work outside of its original architectural context.
According to artists Coda Nicolaeff and ILĀ themselves, “UN/BOUND is more than music. It’s a ritual, a reclamation, and a portal into shared presence. In increasingly trying times, holding space where trans creatives are celebrated, heard, and fairly remunerated feels more vital than ever.”
Recorded at Goldsmith’s Music Studios over the course of the last year, the EP features the voices of over a dozen trans vocalists, with composition from Coda Nicolaeff and Ilā Kamalagharan, alongside production from ILĀ and mixing/mastering from Cherif Hashizume (Bjork, Brian Eno). Also featured is technology from MOTH Quantum.
A set of haunting, experimental ambient choral pieces interspersed with electronic elements, the UN/BOUND EP is exactly what it sets out to be – a piece of recorded vocal art in mixed form. Largely made up of echoing harmonies and somewhat unsettling synthesised elements, all three tracks of the UN/BOUND EP are a full sensory experience, leaving the listener feel almost like they’ve been submerged in its meditative echoes.
