Whitney Johnson, Lia Kohl, and Macie Stewart Go Beyond the Chamber - SPIN

"All but one of the song titles on Body Sound, the debut album from experimental string trio Whitney Johnson, Lia Kohl, and Macie Stewart, line up nicely-a few words, usually two, usually nouns, separated by a vertical line. The straight line in the middle means different things in different disciplines. In computing, it's called a 'pipe' and serves as a conduit. In poetry, it denotes a pause or break. In music, it marks the beginning and end of measures."

"Johnson (viola), Kohl (cello), and Stewart (violin) begin with free-form improvisations, blending and contrasting the rich tones and grainy timbres of their instruments. Tracks like 'stone | piece' and 'cough | laugh' benefit immensely from the longing orchestral sonorities and lapping tidal rhythms that abound in chamber and symphonic music."

"Though Body Sound marks the trio's debut, the members have previously worked together-Johnson and Kohl on last year's For Translucence (Drag City) and Kohl and Stewart on 2020's Recipe for a Boiled Egg (Astral Spirits), and all three on Stewart's When the Distance Is Blue (International Anthem), from last year-and you can hear that experience in the intuition and attention that suffuses these songs."

"Like their Chicago peers SML, Johnson, Kohl, and Stewart then shape the spontaneous material in post-production, adding loops, effects, and layers. It can be fun trying to figure out where the line between in-the-moment inspiration and later tape manipulation lies."

Body Sound is the debut album from an experimental string trio featuring Whitney Johnson on viola, Lia Kohl on cello, and Macie Stewart on violin. The album's song titles use vertical bars as separators, symbolizing different meanings across disciplines—serving as conduits, pauses, or measure markers. The trio begins with free-form improvisations, blending rich tones and grainy timbres characteristic of chamber and symphonic music. Despite being their debut collaboration, the members have extensive prior experience working together on various projects. The spontaneous improvisational material is then shaped in post-production through loops, effects, and layering, creating an intentional ambiguity between organic inspiration and deliberate tape manipulation.

Read at SPIN