Emptyset is the innovative electronic duo of James Ginzburg and Paul Purgas.The duo composes within a complex set of self-imposed parameters or rulesets and the results of their expeditions on Borders are at once minimal andvisceral. Focusing on shifting timbral changes over melody, Emptyset s work isan exploration of the relationship between rhythm, texture and space.The pair shares a history in Bristol s underground music scene as well as animpressive list of production credits. Ginzburg, now Berlin based, runs anetwork of record labels including electronic music label Subtext and ArcLight Editions, whose reissues include a work by Arthur Russell. He s a prolifiproducer and remixer for both independent and major labels, with diverseprojects such as Faint Wild Light, Ginz and more recently Bleed Turquoise.Purgas, now based in London, founded the We Elude Control label in 2009,a curated collection of rare experimental music. Purgas is an artist, writer andcurator who has presented projects with Tate, Whitechapel and SerpentineGalleries, and he is also an active promoter of electronic music in eclecticspaces from a carpark to a Modernist pavilion.Each project s framework and parameters dictate how the sound or performanceevolves. In the past, Emptyset have explored the ways in which the sonicand spatial interact within different architectural contexts: often site-specifilocations such as the decommissioned Trawsfynydd nuclear power station inNorth Wales, or the neo-gothic Woodchester Mansion. Borders takes a differentapproach, centering around the performative and the performer. Having eachcreated their own tactile instruments, a six-stringed zither-like instrument anda drum, Emptyset focuses on how organic sounds interact with the analogueprocesses that have defied their work to date.Contrasting typical approaches to making electronic music, Emptyset set outto emphasize live performance rather than creating sequences within devices.While Purgas and Ginzburg utilize vintage analogue electronics, compressingand distorting the signals, the album itself is performed entirely live, wheresubtle movements make for substantial changes in sound.From the very fist track, Body, one can hear how the physicality of theinstruments have imbued the sound s texture. The physical characteristics ofthe metal strings create a layer of dynamic juxtaposition to the grinding timbresemerging around them. The broody Ascent, features the album s clearestcall-and-response between the stringed instrument and the drum, barking andthudding back and forth at one another. Evident in tracks such as Border and Speak, Emptyset uses basic rhythmic structures drawn from an array ofbroad cultural practices, expressed neutrally and without overemphasis on thesource. Taken as a whole Borders distills the duo s inspirations to their essenceand the resulting music is as raw as it is captivating.
