Wilco’s guitarist Nels Cline, and Yuka C. Honda of the Japanese art pop band Cibo Matto have teamed up as CUP a, experimental electronica duo blending various electronica, folk, rock and improvisational styles to their music. CUP has announced their first album as CUP entitled Spinning Creature, which will be released via Northern Spy Records on November 1st.
Cline and Honda are a married couple, and have collaborated with each other in the past on other projects such as Cline’s Macroscope, and Lovers. The two have also frequently collaborated with each other during live performances, with Cline joining Cibo Matto for Wilco’s Solid Sound Festival in 2015, and Cline touring with the band in 2014.
This latest album was recorded during three days in Brooklyn, New York, although the two had been performing the songs together live for the past several years. Improvisation is a huge part of this work according to both of the artists and the album will hosts some moments of spontaneity from their creators. The two released the trippy title track for the album earlier this year, along with the eclectic techno inspired single “Soon Will Be Flood.”
“I’m into making music with people I know, and the more I know them… the fact that Nels and I live together, and know each other so much is really reflecting in the work, for the best,” Honda explained in an interview with XPN. I welcome our relationship into this music. We feel more free that way, to explore. We can listen to our mastering in our room at night. There’s a comfort in that.”
“It also carries some risk, in my case, as the closeness we have frees me up to be irritable at times. I think that at the end of the day, I have a great satisfaction in the work, and learn from that experience, personally, and not just musically,” Ckline elaborated in the interview.”I think that it’s beneficial to work together, and not just hang and eat and be together. This music that’s so true to our hearts – that’s closeness.”
Spinning Creature
1. Every Moment
2. Berries
3. Don’t Move
4. Soon Will Be Flood
5. Spinning Creature
6. Tokyo Night
7. As Close As That
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