Bold synaesthesia-driven fragmented compositions
Who He?
Iranian-born London-based musician who has taken his own synaesthesia (the ability to “see” sound) and applied it with stunning effect to his imminent Ninja Tune-released ‘I AKA I’ long-player (see first taster, ‘Mudafossil’, with its whirring machines and splintered percussion).
Why Ash Koosha?
Koosha’s story is rich and eventful. Moving back to Iran in the 90s, he started out making “noises” on his Commodore 64, before graduating to guitar, bass and drums, inspired by the music of Jack White. As a bassist, he played underground gigs with the heavy rock band Font, below the radar of the Ministry of Culture. In 2007, one of their shows was raided by government commandos abseiling in from helicopters and Koosha ended up spending three weeks in jail.
Tell Us More
He studied composition at the Tehran Conservatory of Music, where, inspired by a piece on the MIT blog about microtones and granular synthesis, he turned his attention to computers and studying the physics of sound and acoustics. Arriving in London as an exile, he began to experiment more fully with electronics, resulting in last year’s well-received ‘Guud’ album. Working mainly with his own field recordings, Koosha has used his synaesthesia to stunning effect – he talks about treating sound “like a physical matter which can be broken down, liquefied, rescaled or spatially positioned”.
‘I AKA I’ is released by Ninja Tune
