“I want to float and meditate with water” – A review of HxH’s “STARK PHENOMENA”

The first re-listen I gave this LP after deciding to review it, was at a rocky beach in the South of Marseille. Not remembering that the opening track carries the title “BEACH”, I see K’s head sticking out of the water, floating to the sound waves. HxH describe their record “STARK PHENOMENONA” as sculptural and invite you to consider it as “an object to be viewed from all sides”. This idea mirrors my current view of a seemingly never ending ocean in which K is turning, twisting, diving, waving and laughing. 

HxH is a duo effort by trumpet player Chris Ryan Williams and cellist Lester St. Louis. Their debut album “STARK PHENOMENONA” finds its apt home with KMRU’s label OFNOT. It’s comprised of 3 tracks that extend to 31 minutes of carefully crafted electroacoustic meanders. Though a term used by HxH to self describe, the text that accompanies the album on Bandcamp critically reflects on “electroacoustic” as a genre that historically ignored the contributions and presence of Black musicians. 

HxH marry trumpet, cello and electronics while traversing through a sonic perpetuity that sails from Jazz sensibilities to tender Noisescapes. The monumental 17 minute long opening track “BEACH” introduces us listeners to the expansiveness of HxH’s sound worlds. A piece that invites you in, gently embraces you, holds you tight and turns you around with its benevolent intensity. “Pyrex Vision” slips into space introducing organ sounds that feel like air pressure, textural field recordings and Ayorinde E. Peebles’ words on a sensory and transcendental experience, salt water, the womb and totality. The cutting through of the cello towards the end feels like a clearing that holds space for the closing track “Erta Ale”, a playful exploration of movement and frequency that leaves you at the place you were willing to be guided to. 

Chris Ryan Williams and Lester St. Louis share “future leaning sonic desires”. Their music places futurity in the room it’s being played in, affects it and twists the clock. Timekeeping fades, let yourself float and meditate with the sound waves of HxH and be embraced by their diligent emanations. 

HxH will perform on 2. September, at the opening night of Unsafe+Sounds Festival 2025 at AIL in Vienna, Austria.

This article is brought to you by Struma+Iodine as part of the EM GUIDE project – an initiative dedicated to empowering independent music magazines and strengthen the underground music scene in Europe. Read more about the project at emgui.de

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.