Now regulars on our blog, New York City-based indie electronic trio Occurrence are back with their most experimental effort to date.
By Graeme Smith
Feature photo by Valerie Terranova
In their new album, REAL PERSON, each song represents the band’s sonic representation of a real person who has inspired the trio in some capacity. It opens with overlapping electronic layers of Louise Penny, creating an immediate sense of atmosphere. As the track progresses with get droning layers and subtle highlights, as things become almost trance-like over six minutes.
Wayne Fieldman adds some spoken word musings over its severe, industrial instrumental. Romeo Castelluci calms things while bringing with it an eerie ambience. It comes back hard during a particularly striking moment. Olga Torkarczuk hits profoundly with its maximalism.
As the album progresses, we get surprise composition after surprise composition, each with a unique point of view and a bravery in terms of its experimentation. Catherine Verveat Hollyer strips things back for a particularly poignant moment while Meiko Kawakami ends the record in soulful, lingering style.
Occurrence are the trio of Ken Urban (electronics), Cat Hollyer (vocals) and Johnny Hager (vocals). They’ve featured on our blog several times before, going back to Jane’s 2022 Pride round-up.
“As we were recording our last album Real Friend, we started working on these more experimental instrumentals that were us embodying the feelings and associations we had for these writers, artists and friends who inspired us in our lives,” Ken explains.
“I was sick with COVID and Ken texted me from the studio saying he was working on an ambient piece that he hoped soothed me as I recovered,” Cat adds, “I didn’t know the rest of the world would ever get to hear it.”
Johnny insists this album isn’t the true follow-up to Real Friend. He instead offers: “this album was a chance for the three of us to connect more with Occurrence’s experimental past, a chance for us to really explore sounds and textures outside the confines of a traditional song.”
And if you like music that’s a bit out there you’re going to find a lot to love about REAL PERSON. It’s is out now, available to buy as a digital album on Bandcamp. You can give it a listen below.