All music written, played and recorded by Emma-Kate Matthews and Rob Shields Mixed by Nic Nell at Algebra Logo by Spike Lindley Artwork by Emma-Kate Matthews. East of the Active was released online and on transparent vinyl in August 2018. The vinyl copies are now sold out.

​

Taking inspiration from The Haxan Cloak, Wolf Eyes, Penderecki and Gajek, East of the Active is an abstract collage of found sounds, orchestral samples, acoustic instrumentation, manipulated within an electronic framework. The result is one of uncompromising, unrelenting and unusual sonic signatures. 

‘We Become Louder’ is a frenetic composition of unsettling sounds, originating from the resonant signatures of found-objects and classical acoustic instrumentation. This opening track has an unpredictable narrative, supported by a spatially evocative musical structure. ‘With The Bones of Our Livestock’ follows with a quiet yet ominous soundscape; a haunting collage of soprano vocals, cellos, clarinets and scraping physical objects, closing with a bludgeoning of electronic stabs and grinding stone. ‘This Chapter is Separated’ grounds the listener with a lamenting cello motif lost within a mephitic cloud of doom-laden sonic vibrations. 

Shields and Matthews met in 2015 performing as part of Boredoms’ 88 cymbal orchestra show at the Barbican. An initial conversation about Shields remixing one of Matthews’ EKM tracks eventually lead to the forming of DIAS

​