Ricki O'Rawe and Paul Stapleton (-ence)

-ence is a collaborative project between free improviser Paul Stapleton and electronic musician and 1/3 of Belfast electro-pop band Not Squares, Ricki O’Rawe. Their debut album Dissensual Grooves was released on Resist in 2021. Their music sits between the uncertainty and openness of improvisation and the stability of the familiar palate of sounds and structures associated with dance music. A dis-sensual groove is one that appeals to a dancefloor’s desire for rhythm and movement while simultaneously disrupting its expectations, defamiliarising our engagement and slowing down our perceptions. Both Stapleton and O’Rawe are also academics and cultural theorists interested in exploring futurity and radical social change. With this multimodal project, which spans experimental instrument design, live improvisation, critical writing, and recorded music releases, they are going to “make the club strange”.