Khôra is the mystical and ekstatic transmission of Toronto composer, multi-instrumentalist, and writer Matthew Ramolo. Spanning decades and numerous pathways of expression, Ramolo’s musical workings as Khôra are rooted in the unitive, alchemical wisdom of the hermetic tradition. Collapsing philosophical and mythical realms into sonorous and symbolic form, Khôra approaches the collective overcoming of time through the induction of trance, guiding witnesses to the threshold of our shared illusions. Ramolo has been performing and independently releasing instrumental music since 2006, reissuing inaugural album Silent Your Body Is Endless through Constellation Record’s Musique Fragile series in 2010. Khôra’s most recent offering is entitled Gestures of Perception, a double LP and book of poetic mythography and abstracted occult imagery released by the Marionette label in 2024.
'Coming And Going' is the fifth release from Mas Aya, pseudonym of acclaimed Nicaraguan-Canadian composer, producer, and musician Brandon Miguel Valdivia. Over the past twenty years Valdivia has emerged as one of the most prolific and respected musicians in Canada. Until recently he was primarily known for his contributions to groups such as Not The Wind, Not The Flag, Picastro, The Cosmic Range, I Have Eaten The City, and alongside the GRAMMY Award-nominated Lido Pimienta. In addition to these projects Valdivia has also been heard alongside the likes of Laraaji, Bomba Estéreo, Tanya Tagaq, Sook-Yin Lee, U.S. Girls, Aidan Baker, Anthony Braxton, Michael Snow, John Oswald, and as remixer for Run The Jewels. He has toured widely as both an accompanist and soloist throughout Canada, the United States, Europe, Latin America, and China.
However, in 2021 Valdivia's breakthrough LP as Mas Aya, Máscaras (Telephone Explosion Record), ushered in a new era. With warm reception from the likes of Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, the New York Times, and NPR it shed new and long-overdue light on his inventive compositional outlook.
Coming And Going is the follow-up to Máscaras and, much like its predecessor, it represents yet another colossal shift in Mas Aya's creative journey. The fact that its title is so evocative of flux is no mistake; it's an album that teems with subtle contradiction and restless intrigue, all the while carving pathways toward the reconciliation of these opposing sonic and thematic forces.
