Rob Mazurek's abstractivist fusions

Rob Mazurek is a multidisciplinary artist/abstractivist, with a focus on electro-acoustic composition, improvisation, performance, painting, sculpture, video, film, and installation, who spent much of his creative life in Chicago, and then Brazil. He currently lives and works in Marfa, Texas with his wife Britt Mazurek.

A new album, Lightning Dreamers, is a work written for a compacted version of his long-running Exploding Star Orchestra, and will be available March 31.

Interview by Interlocutor Magazine

Lightning Dreamers was mainly recorded at West Texas's remote Sonic Ranch studios. What was one of your main reasons for recording it there, and how do you think the location's atmosphere may have influenced the album's creation?

We were invited by the Trans Pecos Festival in Marfa Texas to play. I invited these musicians to come out and had the idea to record at Sonic Ranch, this beautiful sounding studio in the pecan fields of west Texas close to El Paso. My label International Anthem agreed. Atmosphere always plays a role in the music. Being in the desert playing music informed by the Black and White River in Manaus Brazil was especially mind bending. Fusing disparate ideas is always exciting.

Damon Locks contributes “vocal incantations” to the album - how do you think these incantations enhance and heighten the music? Were they pre-arranged in any way, or were they more of an improvisation?

Damon’s incantations are his writings based on basic themes of the music. Voice has this kind of innate ability to make rise. Damon’s voice is at times calming and at times thunderous. His presentation brings power to the music.

Lightning Dreamers - International Anthem

How does Lightning Dreamers communicate with Exploding Star Orchestra's previous recording, 2020’s Dimensional Stardust? What is the musical dialogue between the two albums, and how do you think Lightning Dreamers expands the conversation?

For this recording I wanted to open up certain areas that would have the potential to spark and find its own way into the atmosphere. In the end it became almost as composed as Dimensional Stardust but using cut up technique and fusing of disparate elements to shape shift and summon the shamans.

You created the abstract video for the album opener, “Future Shaman.” The video comprises “photographs of Rob Mazurek’s Time Travel series paintings and Radical Chimera screen/video sculptures put through a unique computer program that shape shifts the images through sound.” Could you discuss this series and why you wanted to use it for this video? How did you come to work with the software designer Mathieu Constans for this project?

I have been working with Mathieu for years in the realm of controlling video through sound. So we developed this program over the years to do just that with a plethora of tools. I have also been developing these sculptures utilizing screens and other materials which you can project on, in and through. I set up some beautiful installations at MaintenantMarfa, this wonderful space in Marfa where I am afforded the opportunity to experiment with these forms. I also do the work at Marfa Experimental Studio which is my home studio. The sound and video and sculptures and paintings were all made in tandem. One living breathing experience.

There is an expansive list of players on this album, including guitarist Jeff Parker, aforementioned vocalist Damon Locks, drummer Gerald Cleaver, and pianists Angelica Sanchez and Craig Taborn - could you talk a bit about the creative chemistry between everyone during the recording? How much is rehearsed before recording, or not?

I sent some written music to the group. We rehearsed a bit. I explained the intention and the music was recorded in 1 or 2 takes. It was extraordinary symbiosis between us all immediately. In that room at that time, the feeling of floating down those mighty rivers was palpable.

The track “Black River” includes samples of Exploding Star Orchestra recorded live at Sons d’hiver in Paris, France, on February 3rd, 2022 - how do you think including live samples of the band laid down over the studio sound enhances its immediacy for the listener or otherwise expands on the musical communication of the track?

Sound is sound. And that is how I treat it. Certain sections of the live recording seemed to fit perfectly with the idea of the compositions, so I used them. Definitely created a layer of complexity and joy I hadn’t quite found until this recording.  The immensity of the sound is what is striking to me. Also the idea of completely steering clear of cliché is evident.

What are the live performance plans for Lightning Dreamers? Any particular upcoming shows or tours you'd like to mention?

We just played two tremendous performances at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago and Corbett vs. Dempsey Gallery in Chicago. We will play Big Ears Festival in a couple days here and plans for European and Brazilian and US dates are coming.

Lightning Dreamers is available March 31.

Photos by Britt Mazurek

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