For me Rippleganger is an example of synchronous serendipity that came into existence without any effort on my part around two years ago. I first met Maya in a group improvisation context, where I was amazed at how naturally we were able to improvise musically. Even with the non-tempered prepared guitar and kalimbas tuned to scales of my making, measured in herz, Maya was able to sing in a natural, and original voice, with a great deal of imagination. A few weeks later I asked Maya if she would like to work as a duo, and Rippleganger was born.

We work on specific things (new preparations, rhythmic patterns, traditional Japanese vocal styles) separately, and then let them come out during the improvisations, organically. Our palette has been expanding lately with Maya’s discreet usage of some electronic processing in real time.

Because of Maya’s voice and stage presence — she has a background is in theatre and visual art, while I come from a background in jazz and musique actuelle — our music is quite unique and is more accessible than most other projects I had been involved with, and we started to attract audiences outside of the new music, free improvisation circles.

We are both happy to present to you Chromalepsy, our first cadeau, gift, gifuto.