On alene et, Michaela Turcerová, a Copenhagen-based, Slovakia born musician, takes minutiae — the tiniest scrapes and breathiest hums — and distorts them into sprawling, collaged webs that barely resemble the instrument in its natural state. Each shard, when pieced together, makes a rhythmic, undulating sound born from the subtlest motions.

Alene et marks Turcerová’s debut as a soloist, putting a spotlight on the exploratory approach she has developed on her own and across a variety of collaborations. She has long studied the quiet excavation of her instrument, pulling it apart to find a new vocabulary. To develop this language, she unearths shards of sound from the instrument, muting it or bringing out its scratchiness and grittiness. Primarily working with open-ended scores and improvisation, she is inspired by various percussive music, looking to deep sonic awareness to guide her. As a soloist, her music harkens to the abstracted electronics present across the Editions Mego catalog or the distorted ruminations of Nyege Nyege tapes. And no matter where she goes, she is constantly in the pursuit of the unknown — the hidden elements of music that come to life through experimentation and listening.

With alene et, Turcerová presents her singular language on the saxophone to the fullest. To make this music, she placed many microphones close to her instrument, zeroing in to each sound and examining it from multiple different angles. She emphasizes the percussive possibilities of her instrument, puzzle-piecing each note into pulsating webs. Each track highlights a different side of the saxophone — the bristling distortion and amplification of a column of air as it blows through her saxophone’s body, the trickling tapping of the keys as she places her fingers onto them.

At its core, alene et presents Turcerová’s curiosity. The saxophone lives many different lives within her hands, shapeshifting through the uncovering of its possibilities. She shows us how the instrument is an ever-changing entity, a distorted and blown out drone with a thousand shards poking out from inside of it. But more than just a showcase of an individual instrument, alene et feels like a statement of the act of exploration. Turcerová is an excavator, always looking for new worlds hidden within her saxophone, and leaving room for more to come alive with each listen. 

Michaela Turcerová: modified alto saxophone, found objects & toys
michaelaturcerova.com

Recorded by Simon Wetterstrøm Mariegaard

Mixed and Mastered by Adam Badí Donoval
abdonoval.com

Artwork by Alena Koleso
www.instagram.com/alenakoleso/
Design by Antonín Blüml
www.instagram.com/ferarri_red/

Words by Vanessa Ague
www.vanessakayague.com
Photography by Zoltán Czakó

Released by mappa as MAP051 in 2024


Supported using public funding by Slovak Arts Council

in flux ä

krtonôžky-cvrčky-ma

in flux ė

to sarah and asger

jude, you’re like new zealand

stamps from childhood I.

giraffes’ and wolves’ doubts

in flux ø

fi-hoi polloi

degrowth (closer)

liquid cartography
sonic wanderings

mappa.editions@gmail.com

𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟝
MAP059 Lénok - Langue of Tongue
MAP062 Kult Masek & Petr Vrba - Fumarola
MAP060 Yoichi Kamimura & Olli Aarni - Kōri no ryokō / Jäämatkailu
MAP061 Richard Hronský - Pohreb
MAP064 Areliz Ramos - B side
MAP063 Plume Gril - Unnameable Glory
MAP057 claire rousay & Gretchen Korsmo - quilted lament
MAP058 Adam Badí Donoval - a mirror where the image and the mirror wholly coincided
MAP056 fraufraulein - greater honeyguide
MAP055 - Julek ploski - Give Up Channel

𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟜
MAP053 Michaela Antalová & Adrian Myhr - Sing Nightingale
MAP051 michaela turcerová - alene et
MAP052 E/I - explicit isolation
MAP054 Lamina - Sueños acuáticos
MAP049 - Päfgens - Aspect of What
MAP050 - Henrique Vaz - De Silenti Natura
MAP048 Alley Catss - m Helux
MAP047 adaa - …img…
MAP041 Pentu - And I Saw My Devil And I Saw My Deep Blue Sea

𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟛
MAP041 Slowfoam - Worlding With Earth
MAP045 VA - Synthetic Bird Music
MAP044 Line Gate - Trap
SKUMAP002 Action Pyramid & Jack Greenhalgh - Mardle: Daily Rhythms of a Pond
046 Adela Mede - Ne L​é​pj a Vir​á​gra
043 Plume Girl - In the End We Begin
039 Forces - Chim​æ​ras
040 Rob Winstone - sifting through heaven
SKUMAP001 Lucie Vítková - Cave Acoustics
030 Symposium Musicum - Symposium Musicum

𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟚
038 Nighte - Pin down the dust
036 Kensho Nakamura - Electric Rust
037 Andrew Oda - Back To The Body
031 Baldruin - Kleine Freuden
035 CC Sorensen - Phantom Rooms
034 Alexandra Spence - a veil, the sea
033 Manja Ristić - Him, fast sleeping, soon he found In labyrinth of many a round, self​-​rolled
Grykë Pyje - The Fantastic World of Grykë Pyje
032 Atte Elias Kantonen - POP 6 SUSURRUS

𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟙
029 Grykë Pyje - Squirlich Stroll
028 Cucina Povera - Dalmarnock tapes
027 Nick Storring - Newfoundout
025 Lucia Nimcová & Sholto Dobie - DILO
026 Cheryl E. Leonard - Schism
024 Tastin Menu - Stand closer when you have something to say
023 Infant - face first in the entangled

𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟘
022 Line Gate - Apex
021 Andrew Oda - SOTTO
020 Cristián Alvear & d'incise - Bow down thine ear, I bring you glad tidings
019 Vlad Dobrovolski - Natursymphony No​.​1 — Spring Music
018 Felicity Mangan - Creepy Crawly
017 Roman Radkovič Collective - Televize
016 Olli Aarni - Mustikoita ja kissankelloja
015 Sarah Hughes - I love this city and its outlying lands
014 Sébastien Branche - Lignes de Fuite

𝟚𝟘𝟙𝟡
013 Grykë Pyje - Collision And Coalescence
VA: UŠAMI / Sound mapping camp - Gemer Gothic Route
012 IQ+1 - Conversaphone Plus

𝟚𝟘𝟙𝟠
011 Sarah Hennies - Sisters by Lenka Novosedlíková
010 Simon Whetham - Open and Closed Circles
009 MP Hopkins - Aeroplanes & Puddles

𝟚𝟘𝟙𝟟
008 Bruno Duplant, Pedro Chambel - Autofictions
007 Catriel Nievas, Sergio Merce - Pampa
006 Diatribes - Sistere
005 Line Gate - Den

𝟚𝟘𝟙𝟞
004 Sarah Hennies: Orienting Response by Cristián Alvear
003 Daniel Lercher & Vinzenz Schwab - Decrecimiento Exponencial
002 Adam Asnan - Carriers, PA
001 Jeph Jerman - 34​°​111'3"N 111​°​95'4"W

New tracks tagged #prepared instruments