Howling offer a snapshot into the art of human connectivity

To simplify its definition, the term ‘colure’ is used to describe two transient circles intersecting at the celestial points. As such, it couldn’t be more of an aptly chosen word to describe how the pair crossed paths and began to work together over seven years ago.

As a member of the minimal electronica quartet The Acid, Cuming himself, is no stranger to electronica. In a genre that so heavily encapsulates a spirit of community with countless remixes and collaborations, it was only a matter of time before he would’ve crossed paths with the prolific musical polymath, Wiedemann, who also serves as one half of the duo Âme.

Whilst it would be easy to align the trajectory of this meeting with the coordinates of those two musical entities, it was actually Cuming sending a demo of “Howling” – which was released on RY X’s second album Dawn; an intimate and hypnotic exploration into ambient and ethereal pop – that sparked a connection between the pair. Wiedemann recalls “connecting quite well with it from the beginning” and trying not to tamper with such a precious style of production. Thus, a transcendental meeting of minds, with roots in an open stream of conscious creativity, was born.

In age-old tradition to the electronic music scene, Wiedemann worked on the song for two days before debuting it at Watergate, Berlin, to a crowd who clearly enjoyed what they were hearing. Unbeknownst to them, they were privy to the genesis of an intuitive and endless musical entity. “I told Ry the story and he was like, ‘what do you mean you played it?’” Wiedemann laughs, “He wasn’t really aware, I think, of the possibilities of club music at the time – of playing something instantly in the club and getting reactions – because we come from an old school record industry where you have to go mix it, get it mastered, get it on record and only then can you play it.”

Howling is an amalgamation of two disciplined musical minds who, whilst engaged in numerous other projects, and often in different orbits, find themselves drawn to creating together. “When we lean in to make Howling records, we both put our full beings behind it, [and say to each other] let’s lean in; let’s make art; let’s commit to this together,” Cuming elaborates. “We’re both very good at that and we have such a foundation of trust with one another because of commitment across the board. When one of us leans in, the other leans in and we respect each other’s personal lives and other projects but we love making music together so we commit to that.”

Their debut album Sacred Ground was an amorphous and elemental partnership of deep house subtlety and human rawness, knitted together by ethereal wonder which transcended the confines of each realm it was created in and each place it was predisposed to have been enjoyed in. It’s almost impossible to believe that Howling often create music remotely – Wiedemann in his Berlin studio, and Cuming at his home studio in LA – as there’s a synergy that radiates from their seamless soundscapes.

Colure is an aural embodiment of Wiedemann and Cuming’s meanderings throughout life over the last five years. Each song amorphously transposed against an ever-changing backdrop; each influenced by its surroundings and permeated with a sense of fluid ambiguity. What transpires is a trance-like and meditative form that refuses to be anchored, all at once haunting and emotive as it tugs you through seemingly disparate sonic landscapes.

In the making of all Howling songs, Cuming finds a sense of motivation within humanising the electronic elements of a song as he believes that “we’re so inherently connected to the human experience,” and there’s a beauty within creating emotional reactions and landscapes. “What we really enjoy doing is blending the worlds and trying to challenge what is electronic and what is organic,” he continues. “For us, it’s all just a place of music and creation and if we pour everything that we have in there, what comes out is its own unique hybrid of both of our backgrounds, and for me, the human element and the emotional element is integral to my creation as an artist.”

Bookending Colure is a duplet of songs that are named in such a way that insinuates the idea of taking a pause on life to experience a planetary shift within yourself. “Ellipses i” invokes a sacred space in which to consume the curational experience that Howling have created, and induces you into a solemn mindset, whilst “Ellipses ii” outlines a mystical, almost meditative, grounding that is still wholly connected to the ascension process.

As the two songs are fully instrumental, they highlight Wiedemann’s ever-growing proficiency in his craft. “Frank has such a beautiful touch on emotionality,” begins Cuming as Wiedemann humbly smiles to himself at the compliment. “He’s German, but he does – it’s strange; it’s a modern dichotomy. We’re both not afraid to go into that space.”

The endless flow of commitment to their artistry and dexterity in their craftmanship provides a distinct progression from the “virgin process” of their debut album. Wiedemann reflects on the experimentation of playing with water bowls and recording techno music on Sacred Ground, and is grateful to be able to look back on that time to hear them carve out a truly distinctive and defined 'Howling' sound.

“Your role as an artist is not to force people to feel, but to create a catalyst and an openness for people; their own expressions and experience, and so we don’t try to define people’s experiences, we just want to share the work from an authentic place ourselves,” Cuming says. A lot of this comes down to trusting each other, but also trusting that they’re honest in their creations and conjuring a ceremonial, and almost spiritual, connection when immersed in the creative experience.

Tapping into a nebulousness in the lyricism, Cuming notes that Wiedemann gives him a lot of spaciousness to create from his own heart: “I always touch the metaphysical a little bit. It’s an experience – what’s happening inside myself and what’s happening, not really on a world level, but on a meta level. The metaphysical is a comparison of my own experience against all else happening universally and that tends to be a theme and I think that informs the music a little bit.”

“Hide until you find / mind into the mindless / fall into the bind / slide into the silence,” he sings on “Healing”, which is a meticulous example of stunning lyricism that encapsulates a deeper-rooted message beneath the songs; something that can almost come close to defining the pinnacle of the human experience. Cuming is aware that this isn’t something that can be forced. It has to come from a place of honesty.

“I would say you can’t pretend something like spirit or intention or transcendental – you can’t fake those things, you have to be living them. You have to be exploring the inner limits of yourself, and put that in front of someone else, and Frank and I both do that in our own ways,” he says. “Once you embody that analogy of the photograph; once you take a photograph of a moment, it exists in that caught frame forever so if there’s an emotional moment, if there’s something deeply profound that happens in that moment, it always brings you back to that. It’s like a freeze frame of human experience and whatever transcendental or spiritual moment is happening in there.”

Whilst having a set intention in all that you do, especially if your work is seeped with motivation to create something profound, there’s humility in knowing that you can’t always hit the mark. “Frank and I try to imbue the work with that so it comes out with that already in it. It’s not a framed thing that you put on top of it and think about it,” Cuming continues. “You can’t cognitively decide ‘I’m going to put [in] spirituality or transcendental’, it just is or it isn’t. We hope that it is in the right ways for people, but also if it doesn’t connect, that’s ok. When you learn to remove your ego from the work it becomes more about the expression and how people respond, and how deeply they respond is up to them.”

Likening their creative threads to “walking in the world with a camera”, there’s element of infinite perspectives in which the listener can attach themselves to the songs, but there is also the juxtaposition of a curational experience to contemplate. Percussion is a subtle thread that binds these elements of curation together.

“Pieces” slips into organic drum sounds which set the foundations for a sensory deprivation assault of synths that brush over every part of your mind, perfectly shifting between the left and right aural senses. When this gives way to “Bind”, where Cuming’s breathy, sensual and illicit vocals are slightly distorted, the drums transform into synthesised kin of the classic afrobeat style. “Mother Mother” is at first deep and contemplative in it’s plea of despair on observing terrestrial devastation but there’s a routine clap that transpires throughout the song in a slightly disconcerting manner – almost as a kind of alarm to wake up and come to our senses.

Over the past few months, there has been an incredibly eye-opening snapshot into just how much we all need human connection and how powerful we can all be on a higher level if we band together in a sense of community to enforce change and promote positive open channels of communication. From solitude to simply revelling in stillness, shedding an egoistic way of being is something that we’ve all had to face, and it’s a sense of grounding that also permeates Colure.

Ruminating on how the album is perhaps a catalyst or a vessel to promote these ideas, especially from a personally healing perspective during lockdown, Wiedemann says: “I’ve decelerated my life drastically in a very good way actually that makes me feel like I wanna keep something of that for even the times after this crisis – and actually, it’s the first time I’ve called it crisis because, so far, it’s been a beautiful time, I have to say. I think the music on the album is something you can really dive into and find your peace in the power that comes out.”

Rather than dwelling on the negative aspects of all going on around us, Colure is intended to be a vessel that creates reflection and an ability to examine our own lives. For Cuming, he wants people to come away from an experience feeling catalysed or feeling “inspired to shift closer to themselves” in order to get as close to the human experience as possible.

“[Even] if that means they have to leave their job or leave an unhealthy partnership or follow love across the world, it’s about making the moves that truly resonate with who we are individually and learning to trust that more and more so that all the decisions that we make are closer to that," he offers.

"If that means sacrificing money, or time, or energy to make choices that are closer connected to our true wants, our true hearts, then we’re gonna do that and we can embody that message and put that in our work and if people can get that reflection in any small way, that’s a very poignant and powerful moment for people to experience. Even through this challenging time. Learn to listen and to truly move deeper into where we really wanna be as individuals and collectively as a society and culture and world."