ISSUE Radio: Liturgy

On Saturday, April 14 2012, Hunter Hunt-Hendrix kicked off his Residency at ISSUE Project Room in a duo performance as Liturgy with Bernhard Gann, The set features eruptions of distorted guitar and what Hunt-Hendrix calls a “burst beat,” an industrial-like discharge of noise that accelerates, decelerates and explodes in and out of sync with the back beat. Hunt-Hendrix’s vocals alternate between incinerating yelps and minimalist Gregorian-like melodies, an effect that evokes something simultaneously apocalyptic and ethereal, something uncontainable yet grounded.

Hunter Hunt-Hendrix is the singer, guitarist and songwriter for Brooklyn-based black metal band Liturgy. Born 1985 in NYC, he matriculated at Columbia University, earning a B.A. in philosophy. During that time, he also studied contemporary composition (electroacoustics, extended techniques and a seminar with Tristan Murail) while also maintaining a close connection to the D.I.Y. Brooklyn music scene, playing in hardcore, metal and math rock bands. In 2008 he formed Liturgy, a self-christened “Transcendental Black Metal” band committed to developing and enhancing resonances between black metal and various domains of avant-garde culture: serious music, contemporary art and contemporary philosophy.