CxBxT '.After'
CxBxT is a new collaborative project consisting of Japanese singer, songwriter, and filmmaker Tujiko Noriko, musician and composer Adrian Corker, and percussionist George Barton. S tepping into the studio for the first time together last summer in London, the emerging six tracks that form new album ‘.After,’ were recorded in a day and a half with some material later overdubbed. Primarily recorded live with multiple mics and chains of effects by Ben Lockett, the improvised music came out of instruments which were already in the studio including piano, percussion, various synths and also instruments brought in including shakuhachi, melodica, bass, guitar and sounds recorded on and played off acetates. Corker and Tujiko originally recorded as a duo and Barton later added tuned percussion, drums and musical saw. Corker further added fields recordings made with sound recordist Chris Watson. The music twists and turns sometimes sounding like a modernised Bauhaus, other times it has loose dub influences, shades of Japanese folk music and the motorik beats of a German band from the 70s., ‘.After’ is a thrilling journey both organic and imperfect whilst also fused with machine and mechanical processes. Corker first met Tujiko when he co-founded the Constructive label in 2020, and released the OST for the British film ‘Surge’ starring Ben Whishaw, written by Tujiko and eminent British sound designer Paul Davies. “It was our first time making music together and there was no plan,” adds Tujiko. “Most of the tracks were built from the first take but we recorded the tracks layer by layer, listening carefully to the sounds that were already there. It wasn’t like doing an improvised live session where everyone just plays together. It was something more quieter and nuanced.” For ‘Aurora Sagashi,’ Corker built the track around harmonium, strings and Tujiko’s lo-fi vocals with Barton adding percussion. “It was the first time in my music-making life that a project came together like this. I think the way we made this record reflects Adrian’s simplicity – the kind that comes from his ability to grasp the essence probably intuitively. I’m kind of intuitive too, and….it’s just chaos,” continues Tujiko. “Ben was also a truly huge part of the album. He created such a beautiful and open sonic space – without Ben, we would have just been tangled up in cables, far from being focused or intuitive. I remember him using the word “magic” several times during the recording. I hope there’s a little bit of that magic in this record to share.” Tujiko Noriko is a Japanese singer, songwriter, and filmmaker based in Paris. Since the early 2000s, she has released several albums of experimental pop, singing bittersweet melodies in Japanese and English over glitchy, downtempo electronics and electro-acoustic arrangements. Early releases such as ‘Shojo Toshi’ (2001) and ‘From Tokyo to Naiagara’ (2003) were critically acclaimed, attracting attention from IDM and indie pop audiences alike. She has collaborated with several experimental electronic musicians, including Peter 'Pita' Rehberg as DACM, French artist Saâdane Afif and Lawrence English and John Chantler on ‘U’ (2008). Having worked on numerous experimental short films throughout her career, Tujiko released her first full-length instrumental soundtrack ‘Kuro’ in 2019. The expansive ambient work ‘Crépuscule I & II’ was released in 2023 which Pitchfork described as “intimate yet cinematic.” Adrian Corker is a musician and composer who has written extensively to picture, alongside releasing music both as a solo artist and in collaboration. His first score, Antonia Bird's cult classic ‘Face’ (1998) starred Robert Carlyle and Ray Winstone and most recently, he scored Rowan Joffe’s drama series ‘Tin Star’ (Sky Atlantic/Amazon). Other notable film scores include ‘Three Degrees Colder’ (2006), ‘The Have-Nots’ (2016) by cinemotographer/director Florian Hoffmeister( Tár’ (2023). In summer 2023, he completed an installation for Mode’s 2023 Tokyo Festival in collaboration with Japanese film composer Takuma Watanabe. The same year, he curated a project titled ‘Utopia or Oblivion’ based on the work of Buckminster Fuller, featuring work from Ale Hop, Robert Lippok and Silvia Kastel. He has also curated events at the ICA London, Unsound Festival and the Gagosian Gallery. Recent curation includes Chris Watson’s ‘Namib in the Octagon’ at Queen Mary in London. He has released numerous albums as a solo artist including his 2022 album ‘Since it Turned Out Something Else,’ which was described by Electronic Sound Magazine as ‘Intensely and startlingly brilliant’. His final season score for Tin Star came second in Mojo Magazine’s Soundtrack of the Year, pipped only by Warren Ellis. He has collaborated with musicians including Chris Watson, Jack Wyllie and Richard Skelton. Corker also runs the groundbreaking labels SN Variations and Constructive which together have released music by John Cage, Lucy Railton, Kit Downes, Oliver Leith, Takuma Watanabe, conductor/composer Jack Sheen and most recently, Tujiko Noriko and sound designer Paul Davies’ score to Aneil Karia’s debut feature ‘Surge’ starring Ben Whishaw. Percussionist George Barton has been described by BBC Radio 3’s Tom Service as “a boundless musical explorer,” and regularly works in the fields of chamber music, solo playing, film sessions, free improvisation, and orchestral work, as well as arranging and conducting. With pianist Siwan Rhys, Barton forms GBSR Duo, whose repertoire ranges from Stockhausen and Ustvolskaya to Aphex Twin and Harold Budd, and whose collaborators range from the LA Philharmonic to experimental artists Angharad Davies and CHAINES. In 2025 GBSR Duo won the Royal Philharmonic Society's Young Artist Award. He is also a member of both the Colin Currie Group and Riot Ensemble. Tracklisting:1. Yasashii Sayonara 2. Shakou 3. Hoshi o Atsumete 4. T?ku no Minato 5. N0 6. Aurora Sagashi
