Behold, this ides of March: The Catalyst brings you the finest export from Newcastle upon Tyne, England. :zoviet*france: will be visiting Hong Kong, to bring us their perplexing visuals and dazzling auricular experience with a live performance. One of the most enigmatic forces in the experimental music arena, they have been busy crafting haunting soundscapes with found objects, tape loops, and unconventional recording techniques since 1980s. Their mysterious approach extends to anonymity, cryptic packaging, and limited releases that have become cult artefacts, defining the very nub of transgressive art movements at the time.

For over 40 years, the musical endeavours of :zoviet*france: combine abstract sonic collage and electronic manipulation with a distinctly art brut sense of instrumental technique; their radical approach inimitable, luminous and intangible; their music conjuring extraordinary, arresting and often unsettling landscapes, bringing forth the collective unconscious and nudging acoustically our physical plane. 

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In an era where music is as quantified and compartmentalised as the claustrophobic computer boxes it’s created in, :zoviet*france: has maintained a refreshingly grassroots approach despite an ineradicable intellectual sheen. Their use of tape manipulation and continuing penchant for collaboration and ritual has explored places few could reach or embellish. Recordings by :zoviet*france: reflect a unique aesthetic heavily imbued with pure improvisations, where ambiguity would combine with deliberate misdirection: “We feel our music works best when the inner workings remain out of sight. We intentionally invest it with a degree of esotericism that assists in making contact with listeners directed level of consciousness. It’s the outcome that’s important rather than the path”