ISSUE Project Room : an open and versatile environment in which established and emerging artists conduct, exhibit and perform new and site-specific work

The term supergroup should not be bandied about lightly…or perhaps, used at all, considering possible connotations of ego-clashing wankery and undeserved hyperbole. Nonetheless, considering the ridiculously high caliber of musicianship/resumés/chemistry exhibited by the subjects at hand, I’m having a tough time resisting the urge to drop said nomenclature in reference to Volume(II) -- the new improv project of composer/electronic artist Stephan Moore, composer/flautist/electronic artist Suzanne Thorpe, composer/harpist/laptop-ist Shelley Burgon, and composer/avant-turntablist Maria Chavez …undeniable heavy-hitters in the Brooklyn/NYC experimental community that rack up a cumulative curriculum vitae about 100 times longer than I can provide in this forum. But to go ahead and rattle off a few: Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Mercury Rev, Stars Like Fleas, Ne(x)tworks, Thurston Moore, Pauline Oliveros, Lydia Lunch, etc, etc, etc.

This Friday (July 23) at ISSUE Project Room, the group will present their second-ever performance: a certain highlight of the fifth annual, Stephan Moore-curated Floating Points Festival – a month of new works utilizing ISSUE’s 15-channel Hemisphere speaker system (designed and constructed by Mr. Moore himself). Definitely not a performance to sleep on.

As a preview, the impeccable quartet has shared with us the full, 26-minute recording of their debut set - Volume(I) -  from last month at the White Box gallery, showcasing a pitch-perfect balance between the fluid, performer-blurring integration of naturally intuitive communicants and the compelling, narrative-driving friction of dynamic interaction between wholly individualistic personalities.