Witness Wounds: Two Duos Collide
Witness Wounds, the self-titled debut LP arriving via Arsenic Solaris, is not merely a gathering of players, but a collision of distinct methodologies.
It represents a synthesis of the theatrical and the abrasive, born from the convergence of two existing duos: the scenic, poetic intensity of Tomorrow I Feel Wrong (Sara Trawöger and Kristin Gerwien) and the high-voltage noise assault of P/O Massacre (Anton Ponomarev and Anton Obrazeena).
The project’s genesis can be traced to the radical sonic milieu of the 2021 XCITING Festival in Stuttgart, a fitting backdrop for a collaboration that privileges friction over easy harmony. However, the record itself was forged in the crucible of a three-week residency at the Theatre Neben dem Turm in Marburg in early 2022. The setting is significant; the specific acoustics of a theatrical space seem to seep into the recording, providing a physical container for a sound that constantly threatens to spill over into total entropy.
Listening to the album’s four extended compositions—’The Warden,’ ‘The Witness,’ ‘The Sea,’ and ‘Music for Mouse’—one hears the dissolution of genre boundaries. P/O Massacre brings a pedigree of sonic pressure, documented in collaborations with the likes of Merzbow and Alex Buess. Yet, here, that aggression is tempered and transmuted by the performative sensibilities of Trawöger and Gerwien. The instrumentation is vast and unconventional: saxophones and trumpets are subjected to electronic processing, guitars are treated as percussion, and the human voice is utilized as another texture in a dense, haptic field.
The track ‘The Warden’ exemplifies this tension, oscillating between brutal, wall-of-sound impact and fragile, claustrophobic silence. It is a study in dynamics where the “instinct and precision” of the players are pushed to their limits. The listening experience is visceral; one can almost hear the distinct artistic worlds of the four participants wrestling for dominance before coalescing into a unified, terrifying organism.
The visual component, designed by XCITING curator Moritz Junkermann, closes the circle on the encounter that sparked the project, reinforcing the communal roots of this trans-European venture.
Regarding the philosophy behind this harrowing and beautiful debut, the label offers an exclusive insight:
“Witness Wounds is a work that explores what remains after the impact: the traces, the cracks, the ghosts. It is an intense dialogue between two universes, responding to each other with honesty and abandon.”
Witness Wounds releases on December 5 via Arsenic Solaris. We are proud to present the exclusive stream of the album in full below.
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