New York-based Ezekiel Honig’s new EP release ‘Object Music’ is artistic and innovative, using unconventional items to produce melodic, muted techno, pairing sound with the visual by artistically foregrounding the music’s components. Using everyday objects and materials such as plastic, metal and wood, Honig creates eclectic tracks by layering percussion loops. Each track within the EP uses different objects which are then repurposed into a mixed medium collage to create a coherent visual representation, uniting art and music through the objects themselves. Honig refuses to be constrained by conventions and genres, instead using them as a starting point to stray from.

The result?

A well thought through combination of music and art centred around something seemingly mundane. The repurposing of these objects gets us to question what it is to make music and art, stripping it of its complexities down to its simple, bare components which is even reflected in the no-messing, is-what-it-says-on-the-tin title of each track.

The first track in the EP, ‘Object Music #1’ doesn’t beat around the bush and opens the EP with a gentle rolling loop over whispered haze. The continuous loop is the track’s core, and the layered solid percussion blocks and kicks over the fuzzy background noise gives the track a calming, ASMR feel to it, creating an audio collage. This track was produced using sounds made with a piece of graph paper, an aluminum tin, and three coins, and these same objects are repurposed yet again on a wooden canvas with blue, black and red acrylic paint to create a visual counterpart to the simple, muted techno beat. One of the simpler tracks of the EP, this calming loop eases you gently into Honig’s quirky project.

‘Object Music #2’ similarly opens with a sparse breakbeat at its core, yet unlike ‘Object Music #1’, the track develops as it goes on, layering sounds over each other which come and go throughout the track. ‘Object Music #2’ was produced using sounds made with a plastic CD jewel case, an envelope, a metal fastener, and a small cedar block, yet it is difficult to match sounds to objects. At 0.18 a rattling sound is introduced to the percussion loop, and at 0.40 the introduction of a new sound – which sounds rather like an airplane in the sky – pans left before dropping out again at 1.15 returning to the minimal breakbeat at the centre of the track.

2 more percussion loops are then introduced at 1.32, which then drop out at 2.08, just after the airplane sound is reintroduced at 2.06. By introducing, retracting and then reintroducing the same percussion elements throughout, this track maintains a simple sense of coherence. Again, the cover art visually reflects the basis of the track – the exact objects are rearranged on a wooden canvas and then glazed over with hot wax.

My personal favourite track in the EP, ‘Object Music #3’ takes the EP in a slightly different direction to the first two tracks, moving away from the core percussion loops and introducing more melodic sounds. This track creates sounds using a key, a flyer printed on card stock, a tuning fork, and a six-sided dice, and straightaway you can distinguish the sound of the rolling dice and a gentle note produced by the tuning fork. A second note is introduced at 0.18 which creates a nice little harmony over the minimalist percussion. This note shifts throughout the track which really contributes to the track’s overall progression and the result is a lovely minor-key sound. The pitch of the tuning fork drops at 2.05 and the percussion loops also gradually drop out, leaving only a very minimal repeated loop from 2.24 to 2.39 which slows down the pace of the track. The loops are then reintroduced, but only momentarily, and the repeated minor note of the tuning fork finishes the track on a reverberating, melancholic note.

The final track of the EP, ‘Object Music #4’ was produced using sounds made with a piece of cork paper, two buttons, a metal plate, and a piece of rubber. Opening with whispered haze and an erratic yet muted percussion loop, another loop that sounds very much like a heartbeat is introduced at 0.  And gets increasingly louder as the track continues. 

This track really complements ‘Object Music #2’, based on a very central, yet sparse, loop whilst other percussion loops come and go. The reverberating heartbeat loop drops out yet is loudly reintroduced again at 2.29, which really drives the track forward. Probably the darkest track of the quartet, ‘Object Music #4’ finishes the EP on a very dark and foreboding tone.

 The EP is very coherent as a whole, each track follows the same constraints using only the source objects as a means of production and creativity. Each track can be taken individually and stand alone in its own right, yet collectively they come together and reinforce the simplicity and innovative thinking behind the project. A definite recommendation, this meditative EP is definitely one to put on when you want to calm your mind after a long, busy day.