Zimoun

Zimoun returns to 12k with WInd Dynamic Organ, One & Two, a pair of longform pieces created with the Wind Dynamic Organ (Prototype III), located in Bern, Switzerland. Zimoun spent many sessions over a few years exploring and recording the instrument and recounts:

“I have had the wonderful opportunity to engage regularly and over a longer period with the ‘Wind-Dynamic Organ, Prototype III’—a truly outstanding and marvellous instrument developed by Daniel Glaus and his team. In contrast to a conventional organ, wind pressure and air volume per pipe can be actively, continuously, and dynamically shaped: the tone is therefore not merely switched on and off, but modulated while it is sounding. This makes it possible to work with dynamic sound evolutions, to generate sounds at the boundary regions of the actual tones, or to integrate pure air noises and shimmering rustles. The key travel changes the attack of the tone, allowing seamless shifts from clearly accented figures to fused bands of sound without changing stops. In this way, airy, noise-tonal textures and flickering, oscillating overtone clouds can emerge that respond to the current wind pressure.”

Based solely on the Wind Dynamic Organ, the two albums Wind Dynamic Organ, One & Two (Zimoun) and Wind Dynamic Organ, Deviations (Taylor Deupree & Zimoun) were created. The two Zimoun solo compositions are shaped by pure, slowly swelling overlays of breathing, warm organ sounds and the long reverberation produced by the church spaces. Deep, haunting tones evoke a living, physical presence, equally as quieting as they are mysterious and unsettling.

The organ stands in the Bern Minster, Switzerland. It was developed and built as part of a research project at the Bern Academy of the Arts (HKB) under the direction of organist and composer Daniel Glaus—with support from the Swiss National Science Foundation.