SORNE

Wondering what those five children are doing on stage? Morgan Sorne says they’re represented in the songs he writes, that their voices echo and seep through the cracks of the American dream. We never learned who those children were during the avant-garde impresario’s thrilling set Thursday night, but we were captivated trying to figure it out. Theatrical creativity at its finest. This one deserves your full attention. - Austin Music Weekly

Sorne sounds of the future gawking at you with a gaping mouth, fearlessly and enveloped in mysticism. Their visual performance is bound to leave you speechless, enthralled with every fragment of your existence spilled into the galactic unknown. Their debut album was recently released in February, and word on the street is-- they will make you lose your mind-- in an enlightened, Star-Child kind of way. - Red River Noise

Confrontational performance art or exorcising musical theater? It’s opposite sides of the same coin for Morgan Sorne, a featured artist at the 2009 Texas Biennial, whose tribal folklore sounds like Antony inhabiting the more esoteric realms of the Mars Volta. Austin Music Weekly captured two pieces of his excellent House of Stone project at Ghost Room.
- Austin Powell, Music Editor, The Austin Chronicle

Austin Music Weekly recently captured a mind-blowing performance by SORNE at The Ghost Room, and has the video and audio to prove it. You can see and hear it all right here.

The band is led by the Austin-based artist Morgan Sorne, who has an affinity for music, poetry, visual art, and performance. Earlier this year he released an album titled "House of Stone," a collection of songs written and composed over the course of four years. The writing centers on a story of five siblings who are struggling to defend their heritage in the wake of their father's untimely death. Instruments used in the making of the record include a kazoo, an old guitar, stretched canvas for drums and beats, dog ear flaps, a hand-made bellstick, an old tamborine, a trash can, a lap harp, a hand drum, and an old log made hollow by insects.

You can download the full "House of Stone" album for free, and find out more about this fascinating project at sorne.bandcamp.com.

SORNE - "Overtones"
http://sorne.com/

Press:

"More than four years in the making, House of Stone is a conceptual, wide-screen epic about five siblings under siege in the wake of their father's death. Layering handmade percussion instruments and countless vocal takes in a manner that recalls Bjork's Medúlla or the tribal folklore of Akron/Family, the one-man drama is the first of five Sorne has planned, each telling a different side of the story. All serve as the soundtrack to his artwork, a collection of haunting, life-size wood cutouts that depict the various characters in highly stylized, indigenous garb." - Off The Record - Covert Curiousity, an Austin Music Blog

Pachanga was the big music event of the weekend, but there was a bunch of other stuff going on. Below are a few highlights.

Sorne at Ghost Room. Sorne is the name of the musical project led by Morgan Sorne, an Austin musician and visual artist who release an album, “House of Stone,” earlier this year. The music combines samples, hypnotic drums and Sorne’s haunting vocals, putting it somewhere in the same realm as Yeasayer’s psychedelic pop. Thursday night at Ghost Room, the band took part in what seemed like a mini-psych fest put on by Knuckle Rumbler, which included performances by Bill Baird’s Blank Fritz (aka Sunset), Missions, Spells and an art installation/light show by Vid Kidz and One of One. The scene was a perfect fit for Sorne, whose set was exciting and very polished, complete with powerful singing and drumming and creepy samples. - Austin 360/ The Statesman

Last Thursday, Knuckle Rumbler presented a fusion art exhibit that included Vid Kidz displaying visuals and Blank Fritz, Missions, Spells and Sorne presenting their live sets. I was only able to catch Sorne’s set but I am definitely glad I made it out to the Ghost Room for this event.

The driving force behind Sorne is Morgan Sorne an award-winning performer, visual artist and composer. He is a transplant to Austin, just like all of us here at ovrld. He originally hails from Tallahassee, Florida but has been in Austin now for years. Morgan comes from a studio art background and is also an actor. This multi-discipline background can definitely be seen in Sorne’s intriguing artistic musical performance.

At the show, Morgan was accompanied by two percussionists, who played non-traditional drum sets and rhythm instruments. Also contributing to the sound was a backing track that added electronic effects and additional vocal layers. The songs were driven heavily by the percussionists’ tribal beats and also by Morgan’s unique vocals. Morgan’s vocal range is extensive and at some points I heard moments of throat singing and falsetto.

Early on in the set, Sorne played “First Born” which appears on the recently released album House of Stone. This song started soft with a light beat and almost whispering vocals. Then, it exploded into a vocal exploration of various timbres accompanied by booming bass drum beats. Through the rest of the set, Sorne played their breed of electronic tribal fusion while video of 3d shapes, naked ladies and space travel was projected onto the wall. All the while, the crowd danced along and shouted their approval.

Along with the music, Sorne displayed visual artwork in the form of various prints and life-size cutouts of children in tribal regalia holding spears and knives. Taken together, the mixed-media elements that Sorne presented spoke to themes of ritualism and violence.

It was great to see that the Austin music scene is open to and supportive of conceptual artistic music performance. I’m hoping to check out more shows that challenge the traditional concert format in the near future.

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Sorne will be playing again in Austin on June 18th at the Mexican American Cultural Center. I definitely recommend going to the show and witnessing the otherworldly artistic performance for yourself. - Ovrld

Sorne
House of Stone

Recognized locally for his visual artwork, Morgan Sorne's debut LP complements the artists' apocalyptic aesthetic with a tribal, 13-track conceptual score that alternately unfolds in shivering awe and delicate textures. The density of TV on the Radio pulses in the layers, while also hearkening an indigenously informed Microphones and more trance-inducing Shearwater. Sometimes too ambitious and compressed in sound, Sorne's sonics are nonetheless compellingly entrancing. **** - Doug Freeman, The Austin Chronicle

“A wonderful brand of twisted, deeply textured abstract pop. Sonically and conceptually it reaches beyond genre definition. Homemade instruments, synths and vocal instrumentation combine to create something otherworldly – something which pop music lacks from time to time.” - Bowlegs Music

Imagine a band without the single use of a piano, bass, or traditional drums. Imagine if a band used only home made instruments yet conveyed a full and almost overwhelming rush of sound. This band is SORNE.

SORNE comes straight out of Austin Texas and is fronted by a young man known as Morgan Sorne. This man is a visual artist, a musician, and a poet. Combine all of these and you get an entirely unorthodox approach to music that sounds nothing like anything else in existence. The only conventional instrument used on this release is an old guitar. According to the artist, an old hollowed out log is used at one point, among other handcrafted percussion instruments. It may be modern in date, but it sounds so ancient. Picture a tribe with some drums archaically chanting in the night. Then, put Sorne's haunting, sometimes Glassjaw-esque, vocals on top of it all. Once this odd Frankenstein of music has been formed, ancient music becomes new again.

Additional to this strange conglomeration of music is an absolutely amazing vocalist. Every word uttered by Morgan Sorne is enough to send shutters up the spine. This adds an incredibly eerie feeling to the entirety of the album. The instrumental sections are already frighteningly beautiful as is, but with Sorne's soaring and wailing voice, each and every track sounds almost choral in nature. Not only is Sorne's voice magnificent, but so is his lyricism. At times ancient topics, such as birth order and death, are sung out by the vocalist. At others, pure anger is all that exudes from his mouth. These lyrics are certainly not sub-par.

Each and every thing about this album is perfect. Not an odd percussion instrument is out of place, nor is a vocal section, a lyric, or a chant. Everything falls into its perfect place. However, what makes this album absolutely incredible is the fact that it is entirely its own. There is not a single way to define this, it consists of an explosion of musicianship that spans genres and millenniums.

Sorne is a musician on top of his game, and his freshman release certainly exhibits his raw talent. This musician is certainly one to keep an eye on in the following years. This is absolutely phenomenal in every sense of the word. Music cannot get more unique and authentic than this. - Sputnik Music

I'm particularly interested in what she has going on because this exhibit, titled "Musical Chairs," merges visual art, performances, and short films with experimental sound and music. As a big music geek, I love the idea of audio and visual components merging in unique ways, especially when the preview materials hint that some of these combos get a little trippy. Aimee wrote that this show spotlights "cosmic, magical, and spirt-based connections through sound and music based art experiences." The music she's booked is grounded in some interesting genres, too. The sample tracks she sent me from Austin artist Morgan Sorne had echoes of TV on the Radio's ghostly pop, for example. Morgan performs at Magic Carpet this Wednesday, Dec. 8, and you can listen to some of his music here . - Jennifer Maerz, Editor, The Bold Italic

The ritual magic and dense color of Austin artist Morgan Sorne's mostly two-dimensional diorama thrills me to the core of my magical thinking. I know the figures and the ground are essentially flat, but I let the tones and shadows on these wood cut-outs fool me.
I see the indigo tribe praying, readying sacrifice (The partially obscured figure in the second row is rendering a blood-splattered rabbit.), and preparing for war in full regalia with a space-dark cosmic convergence draped behind.
The backs of the figures are scrawled with stories, poetry maybe and symbols, colorful, intense but much more hurried or informally than the fronts. Every time I tried to read one, I didn't. The reward less than the mystery — form more intense than meaning.
From Morgan's site (listed on the postcard) I learned each figure has a name, identity, history, position in the society and place in its cosmology. TMI.
The real magic's not in knowing, but in believing.
- JR Compton, Contributing Writer, Dallas Art Review

In the multifaceted vastness of the East Austin Studio Tour, Morgan Sorne is his own prism. His talent spans the artistic spectrum, but it's his visual art, along with incorporated poetry, that will call viewers into his studio this weekend.

Morgan's work can be seen during the East Austin Studio Tour at the Smith Road Studio (#71 on the interactive E.A.S.T. map), which is located at 1406 Smith Road.

Many of your paintings feature poetry on the bodies of human figures. What are the challenges you face in making painting a physical art?

The poetry came as a solution to a problem. I think problems inspire the best art making
for me. I currently try to avoid too much pre-meditation on any work of mine.
My obstacle in the past has been my thinking too much about the end result.
My art comes from a present-tense state of being. I like the idea of discovery, even if that discovery is frightening or ugly. For me, those revelations are what exhilarate me--enhancing and complimenting and fighting with the other parts of my work.

Are there any rituals you practice to help get into your required artistic space?

If I have a ritual, it is to constantly have a hand in many different vocations and activities. I find that I am constantly in a zone of creative thought. The obstacle is usually filtering ideas. I have noticed that activities like manual labor, accounting—anything working other parts of my brain fuel new ideas and productivity. If I am not involved in multiple disciplines, I tend to have a harder time feeling inspired, or producing.

How do the various art forms you practice engage each other as a whole?

I have always had an affinity for music, poetry, visual art, and performance. Each discipline lends itself to the other for me. I compose music and hear visuals that become songs; the visuals evolve into physical art works, and the songs become characters or traits that I incorporate into my performance as an actor. All of these processes are interconnected and nourish one another. My goal has been, and will always be, to present my music, art and performance as complimentary forces that compel and inspire my self, and then (hopefully) my audience.

Do you prefer to work alone, or are there artists you enjoy collaborating with? Who would you like to work with in the future?

I have worked with great people before, but I tend to work best alone. I am a fairly new person here in Austin, but in the short time I have been here, I have met and worked with some fantastic filmmakers, artists, writers and musicians. I am open to any opportunities that present themselves.

Where can your work be seen/purchased locally?

I will have some work at Gallery Lombardi in December, and aside from the EAST Studio tour, I will be featured in the 2009 Texas Biennial at Women and Their Workplace next March.

What excites you most about the Austin art scene?

I love how supportive the city of Austin is for events like EAST. I have talked with the founders of the tour, and feel that this is a great time to be starting a career in the arts here. There are so many major centers for the arts in Texas, and I am happy to have the feeling that Austin is really catching up with those. Publications like Cantanker were such a pleasant surprise for me when I first arrived here. I want to see EAST and the enthusiasm for Austin as an art scene to continue growing.

Will we be able to tour your studio? What can we look forward to?

My studio will be open to visit. I am very excited about two new bodies of work that will be shown for the first time during EAST. You will just have to come and see for your self! - Sarah Marie, Contributing Writer, The Austinist

White bodies float on a field of black. Life-sized and blurry, two adult bodies hover in a dark void. In a striking series of paintings, Morgan Sorne is here to haunt us.

The rectangles of black fabric resemble humans in scale; the arms of the bodies are crossed over the chest. Shroud, the large pair of canvases, is a striking and brave diptych by Sorne. It's fine to see both his and John Mulvany's artworks in "Ghostsongs," all of which grapple with death. Both make narrative figurative art that here shares a reflective solemn nature.

Sorne has made a grouping of painted figures cut out of wood. Robed children pop up from the floor in front of a large landscaped canvas. In this canvas and in Shroud, the medium is listed as "cygnuxidation on duck cloth," which could be translated as bleach on black cloth. I love this technique; it's a reductive way to paint, not adding layers but instead stripping the pigment away in washes. I've dripped bleach on jeans before, but it never looked like this. Sorne has been practicing this process, as he's able to create and control several gradations of midtones. The image ends up loose, drippy, ghosty, random, and mysterious.
Perhaps oddly, I could live with this art – I find it peaceful and solemn. Death is the great equalizer, something each and every one of us can look forward to, the ultimate nap. - Rachel Koper, Contributing Writer, The Austin Chronicle

Morgan Sorne likens the intrigue of his debut album, House of Stone, to that of ancient ruins. "You know there's some story, a literal narrative you can kind of piece together, but it's really left up to the individual to figure out," says the 27-year-old Florida transplant who goes by his last name on the disc (see "Texas Platters"). More than four years in the making, House of Stone is a conceptual, wide-screen epic about five siblings under siege in the wake of their father's death. Layering handmade percussion instruments and countless vocal takes in a manner that recalls Bjork's Medúlla or the tribal folklore of Akron/Family, the one-man drama is the first of five Sorne has planned, each telling a different side of the story. All serve as the soundtrack to his artwork, a collection of haunting, life-size wood cutouts that depict the various characters in highly stylized, indigenous garb. "It's very difficult for me to separate the music from the art," relates Sorne, who draws inspiration from Japanese collective Geinoh Yamashirogumi and Robert Farris Thompson's Flash of the Spirit: African & Afro-American Art & Philosophy. "I want this to be an ongoing history that people can be a part of." - Austin Powell, Music Editor, The Austin Chronicle