Over the course of 20 years, German artist Black To Comm (Marc Richter) has pushed the limits of / and merged the aesthetics of art, conceptual installations and music, coming in a wave of innovation alongside his peers Pita, Fennesz, and later Sarah Davachi to name a few. Through it all Richter as Black to Comm has challenged assumptions, explored identity and confronted the concept of authorship itself.
At Zeenath Parallel Heavens finds Black to Comm contemplating the hybridity within each and every one of us, be it sexual, racial, cultural, or linguistic. Richter mirrors personal dualities musically with a combination of sounds he created and manipulated samples, blurring their boundaries. “I always try to blur the line between sampling and my own recordings, also between ‘real’ instruments,MIDI, electronics, editing, between authenticity and theatrics/artificiality.” says Richter. When recording he became aware of how AI text programs processing resembles his own methods. “I had the realization recently that the way I compose is not too dissimilar to what AI software is doing nowadays – especially when the AI is hallucinating (this is the term used when the AI is overloaded/overcharged/inundated and comes up with made-up results).” Human behavior reflected in a computer facsimile of human intelligence appealed to the ethos of Black to Comm, whose titles and concepts are often oblique and tongue-in-cheek.

At Zeenath Parallel Heavens dazzling expanse of sounds, Richter assembles an arresting sonic narrative exploring the existence of alternative realities. It is as astounding in the scope of its vision as it is immediately enthralling, as inviting as it is subtly unnerving.