Gryphon Rue returns to Soap Library with Playing the Beetles, a sonic adaptation of a performance of the same name with Ka Baird and Qasim Naqvi at Roulette Intermedium in November 2023.

Through a color-mapping system that matches non-toxic paint on the beetle shells to clothing worn by the performers, the highly experimental piece musically interprets the behavior of live beetles (the bugs, not the band.) Under the watchful eye of a live camera feed connected to software, beetles explore their habitat of wood chips and moss, their entrances and exits triggering recordings of their chirps. 

Rue is no stranger to creepy crawlies — fans will recall that his previous album with Soap Library came with a ‘solar grasshopper’ that became animated in sunlight. Indeed, bess beetles (Passalidae) are equipped with the most elaborate system of sound communication known for any arthropod. To communicate, these beetles strum a hind leg across hundreds of tiny spines under the folded wings, producing different sound patterns depending on the angle and number of spines struck. With the help of their insectile collaborators, a kaleidoscopic nest is woven from Ka Baird’s whispers, shouts, and flute, joined by Qasim Naqvi’s slanted voyages on Arp Odyssey. The result is phantasmagoric and utterly haunted — equal parts human and insect. 

Gryphon Rue (b. New York, NY) is an artist, composer, and musician. “Rue's music evokes in sound the bold and playful paper creations of, say, Kurt Schwitters a century ago, a kind of Merz converted into hertz” —The Quietus. His solo records include 4n_Objx (Bandcamp, 2024), A Spirit Appears to a Pair of Lovers (Not Not Fun, 2022) (“Rue’s music feels like going on a trip you may have taken before, albeit not in a long, long time. His sense of dynamics and texture reveal a finely honed craftsmanship” —Pitchfork), and Foliage of Caves (Soap Library, 2020). Rue was a Roulette Artist Resident from 2023-2024, where he presented a new interpretation of Giusto Pio’s Motore Immobile and Ananta (with Odetta Hartman and Benjamin Katz); Clepsydra (with Susie Ibarra, Will Epstein, and Benton C Bainbridge); and Elastic Dance / Playing The Beetles (with Ka Baird and Qasim Naqvi).

Gryphon Rue’s Playing the Beetles releases on October 25, 2024 in cassette and digital formats. Just in time for Halloween, each tape comes with an edible cricket lollipop — for the uninitiated, the taste and crunch is similar to popcorn.

©2024 Soap Library // www.soaplibrary.net

Purchase

Gryphon Rue — Playing the Beetles (SL022)

Playing the Beetles

Gryphon Rue — Playing the Beetles

Soap Library is a holistic cassette tape label in New York City.