SONNEN
SONNEN are an experimental electro-acoustic duo with Max Baillie on viola and percussion and Vahakn Matossian on electronics.
With influences from Colin Stetson to Stockhausen, Mahler, and Ligeti, Sonnen's music revolves around the dialogue between organically recorded live sound (violin/viola/zither) and processed, electronically manipulated sound.
Max’s analog sound – heard both live and amplified, is split and fed into an array of electronic resonators and phase shifters. Vahakn re-sculpts the vibrating strings creating sub-sonics and audible ghosts, creating careful analog synthesis and ‘touchable’ rusty-chain-rubbed and feather-soft sounds they call ‘grain rain’.
Sonnen have featured at Snape Maltings' Festival of New and been supported by the Britten-Pears Foundation, been featured in dance shows in the Netherlands. They have released music with NonClassical and October House Records, and look forward to releasing their first full length album early in 2025.