The Closest Thing to Silence, by Ariel Kalma, Jeremiah Chiu & Marta Sofia Honer

The Closest Thing to Silence

by Ariel Kalma, Jeremiah Chiu & Marta Sofia Honer

supported by

joff curtoys Intelligent, complex and brilliant. Something new with each listen. Modern classical composition at its best. This will be with me a long time. Favorite track: Écoute Au Loin.

more...

	/

Streaming + Download

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Purchasable with gift card

Download available in 24-bit/48kHz.

$9 USD or more
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
Limited Edition 140g "Silent Gray" Color Vinyl inside a heavyweight reverse-board jacket with IARC OBI strip and dome patterned innersleeve. Lacquers cut by Daniel K at SST. (EU/UK orders pressed at Pallas in Germany, US orders pressed at New Orleans Record Press).

**Order ship from US, UK, EU**

Includes unlimited streaming of The Closest Thing to Silence via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Download available in 24-bit/48kHz.

ships out within 7 days

edition of 444 36 remaining

Purchasable with gift card

$29 USD
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
Classic Black 140g Vinyl inside a heavyweight reverse-board jacket with IARC OBI strip and dome patterned innersleeve. Lacquers cut by Daniel K at SST. (EU/UK orders pressed at Pallas in Germany, US orders pressed at New Orleans Record Press).

**Order ship from US, UK, EU**

Includes unlimited streaming of The Closest Thing to Silence via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Download available in 24-bit/48kHz.

ships out within 7 days

Purchasable with gift card

$24 USD or more
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
Shiny Compact Disc in 4-panel Digipack

Includes unlimited streaming of The Closest Thing to Silence via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Download available in 24-bit/48kHz.

ships out within 7 days

Purchasable with gift card

$15 USD or more
IARC0077 Test Pressing
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
Test Pressing from Pallas

*Ships from Chicago. All Sales Final*

Includes unlimited streaming of The Closest Thing to Silence via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Download available in 24-bit/48kHz.

Sold Out

1.	Ten Hour Wave 03:25	buy track
2.	Breathing In Three Orbits (Intro) 00:45	buy track
3.	Breathing In Three Orbits 05:59	buy track
4.	The Closest Thing To Silence 03:52	buy track
5.	Dizzy Ditty 04:33	buy track
6.	Une Ombre Légère 04:23	buy track
7.	New Air 02:25	buy track
8.	Écoute Au Loin 06:02 video	buy track
9.	A Treasure Chest 06:12	buy track
10.	Stay Centered 02:15	buy track
11.	Stack Attack 06:29	buy track

about

In August 2022, Australia-based, French born fourth-world music legend Ariel Kalma was invited to participate in BBC Radio 3’s Late Junction series of special collaborations. The program pairs artists who have not previously worked together to create new music cooperatively.

Kalma was quick to suggest working with two musicians whom he had never met – International Anthem recording artists Jeremiah Chiu & Marta Sofia Honer, whose critically-acclaimed duo debut 'Recordings from the Åland Islands' had been released just a few months earlier. An invitation was sent to Chiu and Honer, which was received with great enthusiasm, as Chiu had long been a fan of Kalma’s work, even citing him as a major influence on his approach to electronic music composition.

The essential structure of the Late Junction collaboration was that the artists would work together to create around twenty minutes of music. They began passing music back and forth, some that Kalma had started, and some that Honer & Chiu had started, with each adding to or editing the track before returning it to the other. The music would only go back and forth a few times before being finalized.

After meeting their twenty minute goal for the program (four pieces total), the three musicians were satisfied in what they would present and sent along their work to the producers of Late Junction. However, there was a nagging suspicion that this wasn’t the end of the story. There were several pieces that they had nearly completed but that weren’t sent for inclusion in the radio program, and there were many ideas for refining those pieces that had. With this in mind Kalma, Chiu and Honer agreed that they would continue to work together to try to push the music further. The freshly minted trio felt like there was much more to be said and more work to be done. The Late Junction program was broadcast in September of 2022. Simultaneously, Kalma, Chiu and Honer began expanding upon the music they had started for the purpose of the broadcast, working diligently on the music for several months.

Their collective approach to this work was born in improvisation and realized via collage-based editing. The end result brings several distinct musical moments — recorded sometimes decades apart — into conversation with one another, forming new narratives from building blocks of old ones. There are snippets of improvised playing from each musician, edited together with recordings that Kalma had made in the 70s at GRM, and even moments of audio notes — like Kalma explaining his ideas — that would make it into the final mixes.

Ultimately, the collection of music highlights the work of all three musicians, intertwining the contextual immersion heard on Chiu & Honer’s 'Recordings from the Åland Islands' with an intergenerational reverence for (and the undeniable presence of) Kalma’s decades-spanning body of work. It is work that has definitively enshrined him as one of the true, transcendent pioneers and sages of new age and fourth-world music. That reverence is affirmed by the album title chosen by the group — "The Closest Thing to Silence" — which is taken from a quote by Kalma included in a documentary by RVNG Intl (as part of their release of the 2014 compendium/retrospective An Evolutionary Music). Perhaps coincidental, Kalma’s quote was a slight modulation of a legendary ECM Records motto, as he said: “Music is the closest thing to silence.”

credits

released February 2, 2024

All Compositions by Ariel Kalma, Jeremiah Chiu, and Marta Sofia Honer.

Written, recorded, and edited in Los Angeles, USA and Mullumbimby, Australia, August 2022–August 2023. Additional archival recordings from Ina GRM, Paris, FR (1976-80) courtesy of Ariel Kalma.

Mixed by Ariel Kalma, Jeremiah Chiu, Marta Sofia Honer, and Dave Vettraino.
Mastered by David Allen.

Design and layout by Will Work for Good & Some All None.
Photography by Alejandro Ayala & Ama Kalma.

Thank you to Silvia Malnati, Katie Callin, Jennifer Lucy Allen and the BBC Late Junction for prompting and hosting our initial collaboration, Scott McNiece, and Ama Kalma.

license

subtotal
taxes calculated at checkout

about

International Anthem Chicago, Illinois

International Anthem is a Chicago-born recording company that produces and promotes progressive media.

Founded in 2014, the IARC label has grown to embody a global community of like-minded artists, musicians, and cultural workers dedicated to craft as a means of discovering truth and celebrating humanity. ... more

contact / help

Contact International Anthem

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like The Closest Thing to Silence, you may also like:

Promises
by Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra

supported by 258 fans who also own “The Closest Thing to Silence”

The music does play from this album, it lives. towercard
go to album
Space 1.8
by Nala Sinephro

supported by 153 fans who also own “The Closest Thing to Silence”

Incredible composure, fantastic drums here and there, great pacing overall, and to top it off an experience that can be heard from the top to the bottom without interruptions. Lovely record and an absolute "trip" of a listen. Fantastic job Nala, you really killed this. 106lil
go to album
Mondays at The Enfield Tennis Academy
by Jeff Parker ETA IVtet

supported by 130 fans who also own “The Closest Thing to Silence”

a warm object mountainphases
go to album
Ngo Ma
by IzangoMa

featured on Bandcamp Radio Mar 21, 2023
go to album
Mutations
by Julien Wilson

Spaced-out psych jazz that could easily soundtrack the Black Lodge, "Mutations" is an eerie wonder. Bandcamp New & Notable Nov 14, 2022
go to album
Comme Au Moulin
by Nyssa Musique

A much-needed reissue of an album that celebrates musical styles from all over the world. Bandcamp Album of the Day May 11, 2021
go to album
Endlessness
by Nala Sinephro

supported by 123 fans who also own “The Closest Thing to Silence”

Of all things beautiful, there exists a special kind - a rarity - that evokes mixed feelings within me, lying somewhere between comforting and utterly intimidating. Brilliant things may come at full speed, and this album felt like a full, unrestrained force of the heart coming straight at me. - Nala, thank you for that. veldusi
go to album