Okay this is unexpected, a beautiful duo between wandering UK experimental tropical guitarist Mike Cooper and Australia’s finest purveyor of banjo and electronics Andrew Tuttle. It’s totally unexpected, but when you think about it for a second it kinda makes sense. ‘One Volt per One Ampere’ is an excerpt of, and our first taste of their forthcoming album, a single contemplative piece culled from a few improvised studio jams, with both of them playing electric guitar.
You can check out our 2015 interview with the endlessly fascinating Mike Cooper here, and a Cyclic Selects from Tuttle the same year here.
This is what Tuttle has to say about working with Cooper:
After both Mike Cooper and I had separately performed at Lawrence English and Brisbane Powerhouse’s OHM Festival in early 2023, Mike graciously accepted my invitation to spend an afternoon recording together. I’ve been a fan of Mike’s for years and we’ve been in the same orbits for quite some time, so it was a thrill to spend time making music.
In the spirit of improvisation – and at least partially due to instruments accidentally being left behind – we decided to utilise instruments in the studio where we recorded as our source material. After a bit of back and forth, both of us ended up playing electric guitars in standard E tuning – something which I don’t think either of us had done in quite some time.
One Volt per One Ampere, a title directly inspired by OHM, is the result of three lengthy improvisations in the one tuning, each sequentially edited down to create one fluid piece. Whilst there’s moments where either of our parts are identifiable to those who may know either of our discographies, throughout One Volt per One Ampere I think that the electric-on-electric sound shines through.
One Volt per One Ampere will be released on the 24th of December via Room40. You can find it here.
Andrew Tuttle Live Shows:
7 December: Theatre Royal, Castlemaine – supporting Mary Lattimore (USA) + Paul Sukeena (USA). Tickets.
9 December: Brunswick Ballroom, Melbourne-Naarm – supporting The Orbweavers for Always Live. Tickets.
10 December: Meredith Music Festival.
