I don’t particularly enjoy rules, golden or otherwise: Zeena Parkins

Should you be able to work your way through the thickset of ads and coming attraction on the Quietus’s main page, Claire Sawers’ article on American electric harpist Zeena Parkins does offer some insights about her experience and her expectation when performing. Parkins, who has collaborated with numerous exploratory musicians including Danish saxophonist Mette Rasmussen and British guitarist Fred Frith, insists that in performance she doesn’t “batter” the harp or piano when she plays them/ Instead,  explains that the instruments are “being approached and sounded in unconventional ways” as part of a reconsideration or expansion in relationships among performers listeners and the spatial qualities of a particular space. The harpist, who has also played with artists unconnected to improvised music such as Björk, Yoko Ono and Merce Cunningham, fuithermore says she’s open to working with anyone who hears things and reconsiders materials in alternative ways.