Hemant Sk Reflects Upon The Mechanisms Behind Spread Of Misinformation With Experimental Noise Album 'AGNOTOLOGY'

Kerala-born sound and multi-media artist Hemant Sreekumar has been at the forefront of India's experimental music pool of talent over the past decade for his ability to offer an emotional narrative with his sensorially engulfing journeys through dissonant textures and fragmented crushed noises much like a contemporary artist would do with melodies and less abstract rhythms.

His latest EP 'AGNOTOLOGY', which was released via Bangalore's Subcontinental label with cassette tapes and wearables, follows suit. While the accompanying concept note about the 7-track release exploring "the mechanisms of misinformation that proliferate and destabilize us" does more overtly state the context the tracks outline, the underlying emotions land even without it. The second track 'PSYCHOTROPICANA', for instance, very much feels like a machine ramping up into an overbearing overloaded and foreboding hum taking us away and eventually (to great respite after a gloomy peak) dropping us back into the natural ambience and bird noises that bookend the number. While that machine might as well represent "the mechanisms of misinformation" that Hemant is thinking of, it's just as well representative of all the noises, internal or external, that keep us from being present in a state of bliss.

'DEEPFAKE VOID' too ties tightly with the tape's concept, representing a sinister vacuum underlying something as common as identity – an effort that feels straight out of a Lynchian universe. In contrast, the rhythmic (discordant) conversations of 'BORED APE FIGHT CLUB 1' and 'BORED APE FIGHT CLUB 2' impress more as reflections on social behaviours and only with the stated concept note might be seen as related to strangers fighting each other on the internet.

The standout track of 'AGNTOLOGY' remains more elusive in its relation to the concept but stronger in its emotional impact, as the hypnotic rises and dips of immersive drones that are constantly interrupted by bursts of noise make this a great work for showcasing someone unfamiliar with the genre of how noise too creates engaging journeys of tension, release, anticipation and its subversion unburdened by defined rhythms and harmony.

Listen to 6 out of the 7 tracks of 'AGNTOLOGY' below and purchase the physical formats of the album here. For more information, follow Hemant Sk.

Artwork by ANPUSAN