Sigil is an album debut which will seal the first five years of Ljubljana’s collective Kikimore. It bears the mark of their approach to music-making which emphasizes the group dynamic and group learning. The current five members have in this time created a tight connection, combining the DIY principles with DIWO (“do-it-with-others”) and created a unique atmosphere in which they grow as individuals and as a group. Ambiental drones, whistles and crackles, imitating sounds of nature, mysterious noises combines with the rhythms of the club – these are the elements, combined in the cauldron, which seal Kikimore’s album debut Sigil.
Kikimore is a collective of five female sound researchers walking the line between noise and ambient electronic improvisation. They are one of the representatives of the city’s thriving new media scene gathered around arts, science, technology and music. Kati Flowerfields, Staša Guček, Nina Orlić, Sara Pegam and Barbara Poček met in January 2016 on so-called Noise tea parties at Rampa Lab which started within the Initiative Č I P k e – an Initiative for researching the conditions of women who are active in the context of science, technology and media art. They quickly acknowledged their shared enthusiasm for musical improvisation and soldering analogue instruments.
They started creating music and instruments under the name Kikimore, which comes from Eastern Slavic mythology. The kikimora is a mythical creature, a female spirit that resides in houses and causes unusual noises during the night. The name captures their non-conventional approach to music-making in which they emphasize the collective creation and group learning based on the principles of DIY and DIWO – do-it-yourself and do-it-with-others. Improvisation within a broadly specified structure, various combinations of sounds, sound manipulation, and the resultant rhythm – these are the foundations on which Kikimore try to build their own noisy musical expression. The process of creation is based on experimentation and improvisation with the sounds of different musical instruments such as analog synthesizers, electronic instruments and contact microphones. With them Kikimore’s sound art focuses on experimental, ambient, noise music and constructing new soundscapes each time anew.
Tracklist
Credits
Staša Guček, Katarina Legat Blomstedt, Nina Orlić, Sara Pegam and Barbara Poček · music
Luka Seliškar · recording, mixing, mastering
Staša Guček · cover illustration
Ida Hiršenfelder · booklet liner notes
Tina Ivezić · graphic design
Luka Prinčič · cover art, booklet design, operations
Andrej Pervanje · promotion, production
Special thanks
Sara Mlakar
Gallery Kapelica, Rampa Lab · Kersnikova Institute
Neja Tomšič · Sonica Festival
Ida Hiršenfelder
Saša Spačal
James Ginzburg
William Blomstedt
Press
February 2021, The Wire, Kikimore – The non-hierarchical Ljubljana collective Do it with others, Abi Bliss
Availability
Free streaming, downloads (name your price) and limited edition USBs are be available through our Bandcamp shop kamizdat.bandcamp.com.
Some rights reserved under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA 4.0) licence www.creativecommons.org/licences
City of Ljubljana & Ministry of Culture RS · financial support
Kamizdat · www.kamizdat.si