Shaddah Tuum - The Wheel (2021)

From The Wheel, Shaddah Tuum's debut LP, emerges a path of transformation and transfiguration of the self - where identity splits into quantum particles, inwardly spiraling invocations of time, desire, power, and myth - towards a transcendent awakening. The album departs from the noise techno endeavours of their 2014 EP, building upon tentacular influences from diverse ethnomusicological sources and mystical readings. The Wheel is a monstrous sonic creature, kin to our collective cyborg-spiritual becoming.

The overall structure of Shaddah Tuum’s LP echoes progressive states of metaphysical change while its title refers to the Buddhist/Hindu concept of life in the karmic cycle of Samsara, as well as the tenth arcana of the tarot deck, the Wheel Of Fortune: the frozen frame of time-space awaiting the slightest trigger to pursue its path of flowing mutations. Diffracted by Kabbalistic and Buddhist scriptures, the lyrics are inspired by media philosopher Vilém Flusser’s The History of the Devil. Flusser’s book invokes the seven deadly sins as a lens for the dissection and disillusionment of Western socio-cultural constructs.

Shaddah Tuum is the longtime collaboration of Berlin based artists Niko de Paula Lefort and Brandon Rosenbluth, who have performed together at events including CTM Festival, Bozar Electronic, Les Urbaines, Norberg, Ritournelle, and supported Sunn O))) at Heimathafen. De Paula Lefort is a musician, musical instrument developer, field recordist, radio transmission and installation artist as well as audio technologist who has presented work at the Guggenheim Bilbao, Gaité Lyrique and Centro Cultural Internacional de Panama as well as Umlaut and Emitter Micro festivals. Rosenbluth is a music and media art curator and artist manager in addition to his musical and artistic practice which has yielded collaborations with CTM, Sonica, Indigo, and Urvakan festivals as well as performances at the Centre Pompidou and Venice Biennale.