Haroon Mirza & Jack Jelfs's album The Wave Epoch
Originally conceived by artists Haroon Mirza and Jack Jelfs during their 2018 Collide Residency at CERN, The Wave Epoch is an album and film developed in collaboration with artist and musician GAIKA amongst others who joined them on the residency.
Incorporating music, poetry, incantation, archive and original video footage and homemade electronic instruments (including some built from discarded scientific equipment from CERN), the album imagines a distant future in which the forgotten remains of the Large Hadron Collider have been rediscovered. Mirza and Jelfs ask: 'How would a civilisation several thousand years from now interpret this vast octa-circle carved into the landscape, with its miles of underground tunnels, cathedral-like spaces and forbiddingly complex machinery?'
Taking this scenario as a starting point, the album and accompanying film are a visually-led sci-fi exploration of knowledge and belief, matter and consciousness, scientific activity and shamanic ritual, and of our quest to find patterns and order amidst the endlessly shifting realities of human experience. The album cover shows an image of the OPAL experiment taken at CERN in 2018. OPAL was one of the main experiments of LEP – the Large Electron-Positron Collider.
The Wave Epoch is the first release of OUTPUTS, a new label run by hrm199, the studio of artists Haroon Mirza and Gaia Fugazza, in association with musician and artist Nik Void. The label will initially be focused on artists already associated with hrm199 and, as well as developing new collaborations, will provide a platform for releasing works from the hrm199 archive, including collaborations with artists such as Okkyung Lee, Shiva Feshareki, Beatrice Dillon and Mark Fell.
The album is available digitally and as a limited edition physical version, which takes the form of a playable artwork made from machined card and foil by Haroon Mirza, housed in a 12″ record sleeve, via OUTPUTS. Watch the trailer of The Wave Epoch on FACT Magazine's YouTube channel. OUTPUTS' YouTube channel will premiere the full accompanying film on Friday 28th January.
Written, Performed and Produced by: Haroon Mirza and Jack Jelfs
Speech on track 3, vocals on track 6: GAIKA
Speech on track 4: Jessica Barter
Drums on track 3: Dave Bebber
Harp on tracks 2 and 6: Mike Forehead
Track 7 Choir: Jessica Barter, Elijah, Gaia Fugazza, Jack Jelfs, Haroon Mirza, Isabelle Woodhouse
Cern Physicists on Tracks 1, 2, 5, 6: Sophia Borowka, Gian Giudice, Peter Jenni, Rolf Landua, Brenda Penante
Text on track 3: GAIKA
Text on track 4: Jack Jelfs & A.I.
Mixed by: Charlie Fieber
Mastered by: Noel Summerville
Playable Artwork by: Haroon Mirza
Sleeve Artwork by: Haroon Mirza
Graphic Consultancy: Fraser Muggeridge
Sleeve Photography by: David Bebber
Made possible with invaluable help from Apfel,
Jessica Au, Monica Bello, Arts at CERN,
Cheolwon Chang, Elijah, Mark Stafford, Nik Colk Void
Distributed by: Republic Of Music
© hrm199 OUTPUTS OUTPUT001