HYPER STUCK – HYPER DUO

HYPER STUCK began as a composition competition we organized during the COVID-19 pandemic. The winning piece, Sometimes Voices by Alex Paxton, was created through a series of video-conference collaborations. The resulting work—for keyboards and drumset—was premiered in a live-streamed concert from Kultur Kreuz Nidau (CH) on June 4, 2020, and later featured on our debut vinyl album Indigne de nous (Everest Records).

But this competition also allowed us to discover many young artists with whom we felt a strong desire to collaborate – Asia Ahmetjanova, Mathis Saunier, Luca Musy, Colin Alexander and Sawyer Adler. That’s why we decided to create a long-term project that aims to grow within a spirit of sharing by highlighting the creative process of young composer-artists through an intimate and original audiovisual performance.

In 2021, the health situation was complicated, requiring flexibility and making it difficult to plan anything. Concert venues were overwhelmed with massive scheduling backlogs due to numerous postponed shows. At the time, it was hard for us to find space to present such a project.
Instead of rushing to organize concerts, we took the opportunity to spread out the collaborative work with the five composers* over the entire year of 2021 — a true luxury. Then, at the end of the year, we isolated ourselves at the Gasthaus Grünenwald in Engelberg with the composers for 10 days. Ten intense days of residency, ten days of exchange, ten days of experimentation, ten days of sound and human experience. Ten days snowed in, in a completely unique house, in a place out of time. Unforgettable ten days.

*Alex Paxton had already written his piece in 2020, as the winner of the competition. So we worked with the other five artists on the project.

The collaborative work with Sawyer Adler (who came especially from New York City), Colin Alexander, Asia Ahmetjanova, Luca Musy, and Mathis Saunier was everything one could hope for as musicians: a true bond gradually built with each one, time for reflection, idea exchanges, and a shared desire to create something unique.
Each piece grew throughout those residency days (and beyond!), and we are proud of each and every one of them.

Filmmaker Emmanuel Vion-Dury was present during the residency. Trapped with us, he filmed the working process and even went further — developing, with and for each composer, real conceptual short films, experimental and personal portraits. We decided to include them in our live performance, as integral part of the project.