There’s some search for definitions needed here. Of course, both OdNu and Ümlaut are monikers, in this case referring to New York artists Michel Mazza and Jeff Düngfelder.
Then we come to Mitochondria Johatsu, the title of their second joint project. Using two separate terms, they seem to want to create a new one – mitochondria are small organelles found in nearly all eukaryotic cells, often referred to as the “powerhouses of the cell” because they generate most of the cell’s energy. On the other hand, johatsu is a Japanese term for people who vanish from their lives without a trace, often to escape shame or stress.
In many ways that combination of terms does seem to define the music Mazza (electric guitar, electronics, effects) and Düngfelder (tape loops, electronics, effects) are creating here, as they put it themselves: “We were striving to visualise an abstract concept by weaving together our unique sounds. Imagine a bird flying over the water, swooping gently up and down, almost touching the surface, but not quite. Creating a pattern similar to the warp and weft of fabric, but in this case the fabric of sound”.
And it is all into those almost minute patterns that create their musical energy and then suddenly disappear to open up the space for similar, albeit different patterns, with the process constantly repeated.
The effect created here is quite similar to the one created by those old kaleidoscope boxes, that create patterns that come and go, never to be repeated again. It might sound simple, but it still creates a mesmerising effect.
