Nous III

NOUS is an experimental music project with a fluctuating group of artists exploring ritual and spontaneity within music. The first trilogy of releases - from which NOUS III is the third - were culled from a 5-day musical retreat wherein 13 musicians were invited to join Christopher at the legendary Dreamland Studios, a converted church, with producer Kevin McMahon (Swans, Titus Andronicus) on an intensive 7-day immersion -- recording for 5 days, with 2 live performances at the conclusion. Each member was given a 47 page handbook that included a series of 60 musical "seed" ideas along with a list of conceptual cues. These ideas acted as a starting place for each improvisation. Bono then designed a daily schedule that began with a morning warmup routine of yoga followed by silent meditation, vocal toning, body percussion, and then a mixed percussion and toning session before moving to their respective instruments. These morning sessions were designed to move gradually from silence to sound within the body (vocal toning), rhythm on the body and finally to a blend of external instruments coinciding with internal sound (instruments and vocal toning.) Once the recording schedule began each day, Bono mixed the seed and conceptual ideas along with timed periods of free improvisation.This conceptual social experiment led to 3 albums and a transcendent sound formed from a unique fusing of collective consciousness.