SHANE PARISH is the guitarist for the celebrated avant-rock band Ahleuchatistas (Tzadik / International Anthem / Cuneiform). His electric guitar works are intense environments, exposed to the elements, and populated by assorted creatures. As an acoustic soloist, he creatively interprets and deconstructs folk music and jazz tunes, plays original cutting-edge poly-rhythmic and contrapuntal works, and transforms the instrument, via preparations and detuning, into a mini-percussion ensemble, banging out pulsating rhythmic trances reminiscent of John Cage's prepared solo piano works. Parish's 2016 collection of folk interpretations Undertaker Please Drive Slow (Tzadik Records) was described by composer John Zorn as "reminiscent of John Fahey and Robbie Basho, at times of John Cage and Morton Feldman, Shane uses these beautiful songs as launching pads for his creative flights of fancy, at times boiling them down to their very essence. A spiritual project that will keep you riveted from first note to last.” His latest releases are Child Asleep in the Rain (Nullzone Tapes), December (self-released), Autodidact (Humanhood Recordings), and a duo album with guitarist Wendy Eisenberg called Nervous Systems (Verses Records).
DC's LUKE STEWART holds the bass chair in countless bands, including (but not limited to) Irreversible Entanglements, Heroes are Gang Leaders, the James Brandon Lewis Trio, and the Jaimie Branch Trio. He is also known for his solo bass performances which employ feedback and the resonant properties of the instrument.
DC-area collaboration, THE AMBIENT EYE, features multimedia artist Monica Stroik and musician Doug Kallmeyer (tenor bass guitar). Here, the visual meets the auditory, improvisation meets composition, and technology enables a dynamic interdisciplinary performance that highlights the interplay between light and sound. Writing in The Wire -- Adventures in Modern Music, critic Chris Sharp notes "a finely calibrated dub sensibility that holds everything in place."
