Biliana Voutchkova has announced the launch of DUOS2022, a series of collaborative releases and live performances. Relative Pitch Records, Studio Rainer Spehl and Initiative Neue Musik Berlin will support this year’s series.

I’m starting the year with a good deal of inspiration for this new project,” she writes in the notes accompanying The Emerald Figurines. She’s joined on the new recording by Michael Zerang on friction drums.

“When I was in my early 20s, I wrote ‘music for me is the freeway to our rarely remembered ways of communication,’ says Voutchkova. “More than 20 years later, I still stand by this statement which has increased in clarity throughout the intervening years. In duos, we define the ‘rarely remembered ways of communication.’

“In dialogue, the exchange is so direct, clean and clear, so immensely profound! With DUOS2022 we’ll investigate, in-depth, the way we relate to one another in the time of ongoing instability due to Covid 19 and climate crisis. This work is precious as we long to share, remaining creative and connected through music. In the ever present moment, in the act of creation, there can be no incorrect response, no misunderstandings. Intuitively connected to one another, we ourselves are transformed as is the space in which we stand.”

This new recording dropped on Friday. As always, Voutchkova’s performance is packed with tension and urgency. The sounds she pulls out of her instrument are practically industrial. Her growling vocals only add to the work’s profound tautness.

Absolutely thrilling.