Jolanda Moletta & Karen Vogt: Suspended Between Worlds

Sydney label, Longform Editions, proved to be another vital innovator throughout 2024, finding new ways to present left-of-centre releases from artists across the world.

In the coming weeks and months there will be more about this rapidly evolving concern from down under, but firstly it’s one of the label’s December releases that unlocked the gates which ultimately led into their sound world: the collaboration between Italian experimentalist, Jolanda Moletta, and Paris-based Australian artist, Karen Vogt, who together spawned Suspended Between Worlds.

Recorded as a live improvisation during the first full moon of 2024 in North-Western France, throughout this 21-minute composition, Moletta and Vogt merge earthy splendor with ether-like bliss.

Vogt’s proficiency to utilise space has been showcased throughout her ever-expanding body of work, and alongside Moletta it continues. Her environmental-based field recordings a backdrop for dreamscapes tailored for high altitudes, and it’s this new world beyond the clouds where Vogt and Moletta ferry their listenership.

The wordless vocalisation trade-offs between the pair conjure up the kind of angel dust that Julianna Barwick has sprinkled across church floors over the last 20 years. Slow-motion hypnotics, provoking a striking emotional response.

It’s a heart wrenching piece that ebbs and flows from past to present, making Suspended Between Worlds the kind of recording reserved for a certain time. A time for those secluded moments where silence and dark corners are the perfect refuge. With the help of mastering ace Simon Scott, Moletta and Vogt orchestrate something gentle yet immersive, a world away from everyday undertakings, and one where you can lose yourself quite easily.

Suspended Between Worlds is out now via Longform Editions. Purchase from Bandcamp.