The Talk Low Music Festival is bringing five days of experimental music to Cincinnati this month, spanning three local venues and featuring artists from all over the world. The festival’s objective is to create a unique context for deep listening.
“Deep listening has an academic context, which means a way of listening to music that treats all sound as inherently musical,” says Ryan Hall, who runs Whited Sepulchre Records, the Cincinnati-based record label presenting the festival.
Hall has played a vital role in curating a compelling and diverse lineup that appeals to various people, including those familiar with the experimental music scene and those who may be just dipping their toes into the water.
“This will be a first for a lot of people,” Hall says. "The way [the artists] present their music is so unique that people will hopefully walk away with their minds blown a little bit by what they can do with sound.”
Maria Chávez is performing on Saturday, Sept. 28 at Woodward Theater, along with Laraaji and SHERMVN.
“I am always honored when a festival celebrates the works of artists outside of regular music. It is so important for this to be shared with communities that otherwise would not have a chance to experience this work live. It is vital that festivals like Talk Low exist all over the world, especially in a time where unique voices are being silenced regularly,” she says.
Chávez is a conceptual sound artist, abstract turntablist and DJ. Born in Lima, Peru, she moved to Texas with her family at an early age.
“When I was a kid DJ, the DJ boys pushed me out of the scene for being too experimental with the turntable in the late ‘90s,” Chávez says. “I was lucky to stumble into the arts and find my people who gave me safe spaces to extend my experiments into an actual performance practice that I wrote a book about in 2011. [It] is considered the first of its kind on the topic of abstract turntablism.”
Chávez’s book, Of Technique: Chance Procedures on Turntable, outlines how to break records and needles and the many ways to use them during performances.
Chávez has been a professional DJ since she was 17 years old and has since evolved into a prominent figure in her community.
“Over time, my career evolved from just DJing to creating large-scale multichannel sound installations for museums, performing with the turntable as an instrument and device, teaching about my performance practice, writing papers and so much more.”
She is elated to bring her multimedia installations to the Queen City after a long time away, saying, “The only other time I’ve performed in Cincinnati was in 2003, so I’m excited to see how the city has grown and meet artists from the area.”
Sarah Jane Quillin is a member of the Chicago-based experimental pop trio, Desert Liminal. She works with her best friends and bandmates, Rob Logan and Mallory Linehan, by her side. The band has released two records under Whited Sepulchre Records, which is why Hall decided to invite them to perform at Talk Low on Thursday, Sept. 26, at DSGN CLLCTV with Nairobi-native KMRU and Five Pointed Stars.
Quillin talks about the origins of her interest in songwriting, saying, “Since I was young, I played piano and was a deep listener. I became part of underground music communities when I was a teenager, heavily invested in Midwest melodic hardcore music.”
Quillin emphasizes the connections that form between people with the intersection of music and art communities, saying, “Today's streaming algorithms and the rising costs of touring put experimental artists at a huge disadvantage, so it's even more special and important that the creators of Talk Low Festival made this space for open-minded artists and listeners to come together.”
In the hopes of inspiring others to create sounds and curate deep listening events themselves, Quillin talks about what attendees can expect from Desert Liminal’s performance:
“Walls of sound, rising vocal harmonies, swirling violin loops, fuzzy guitar [and] driving drum grooves,” she says, “made with love in Chicago.”
When it comes to the process of getting the Talk Low Music Festival up and running, Hall has taken on various roles, including applying for an ArtsWave grant in December 2023 that would end up being approved in January 2024. ArtsWave is a Cincinnati-based arts agency that supports more than 100 arts organizations in the Greater Cincinnati area through funding, services and advocacy.
“That was the catalyst that started this whole thing, applying and receiving the full amount of funding from ArtsWave.”
The Talk Low experience is not entirely akin to previous music festivals held in Cincinnati.
“There will be different ways to engage with the music, [like] paying close attention with your ears and your mind — being intellectually engaged by the music, but also with your body by dancing and moving,” Hall says.
At other festivals, there are certain "barriers” between the artist and the audience, which is something this festival hopes to change. The chosen venues are intimate, giving a real chance to break down the barrier between the performer and the audience. DSGN CLLCTV, the Woodward Theater and the Contemporary Arts Center aim to provide that interactive space for both entities.
“I hope people can go with an open mind and see that music doesn't necessarily have to be verse, chorus, verse, chorus ... It can incorporate lots of sounds and structures that aren't inherently what we think of in the ‘pop song’ structure,” Hall says.
“I think people will feel the warm calm and gratitude that follows a cool, deep listening experience,” Quillin says.
With this year being the festival’s official debut, the anticipation is high to see all the work behind the scenes to make this event a reality play out. With a variety of artists coming from around the world to provide a space where experiencing music and sound is all-encompassing and interactive, both experimental experts and amateurs alike are invited to discover all that the festival has to offer. “I hope people will be energized by the fest and pursue the things that scare them, even if it is not in the arts. I hope people will see that the world is so large — take the chance, do the thing that scares you and see what happens afterward,” says Chávez.
The Talk Low Music Festival will run from Sept. 24-29 at various locations in Cincinnati. For more information about the festival and lineup, visit talklowfest.cargo.site.
