Lesley Mok’s new album, transient, is so unconcerned with a destination that the music seems to wander infinitely. Textural rhythms move with the cadence of living, building sonic spaces that feel both inhabited and imagined. Emotive undercurrents are woven into blurred, melodic drones and aerated, electronic sequences. The lightness is the invitation, but something heavier holds it in place, the physical weight of an inner life. transient is both grounded and free.
transient will be released this Friday, July 17, by American Dreams. Pre-order HERE. Lesley’s website is HERE.
Foxy Digitalis depends on our awesome readers to keep things rolling. Pledge your support today via our Patreon or subscribe to The Jewel Garden. You can also make a one-time donation via Ko-fi.
What did music mean to you before you were playing and making it yourself? Are there early experiences or sounds or records that still feel foundational?
I think music was firstly a way of self-discovery and learning about my own particular tastes. I have really fond memories of listening to many records in high school in my dad’s car—Sarah Vaughan with Count Basie and Miles’ second quintet albums in particular—and just geeking out over Sarah’s sass and melodicism and Tony Williams’ special way of embellishing and decorating the music. I think I was discovering how vast and expressive music could be.
How did you come to percussion specifically? And when did the world beyond the drum kit start pulling at you?
I had played classical piano for many years before discovering the drums, and when I did, I just felt an immediate connection to the instrument and to the movement / physicality that the drums require. I love being able to explore resonance, decay, and timbres on the drums, so I started getting into auxiliary percussion like gongs, crotales, bongos, etc. Milford Graves & Tyshawn Sorey were a huge influence on me as well during this time (circa 2017). I had this dream of building a percussion cage that I could take anywhere with me. And I feel like the incorporation of electronics has been a continuation of this process.
What was that period like? Were you following a clear direction, or were you just seeing what happened as you went?
I wasn’t following a clear direction per se, but I had strong influences and wanted to find a personal way of incorporating percussion and electronics.
The press notes describe the music as moving through affective zones, like a slow, deliberate walk through a museum where an unknown sensorium unfolds itself to you. I love that image. Where did it come from, and does it still feel accurate to how the record feels to you?
There’s a feeling of never-arriving, of spareness and directness that I often relate to in music. It’s a kind of rumination and journeying, and it manifests in a physical way for me, like being in a pitch-black room where you have to feel your way to the exit. A bit dystopian, maybe, but also quite immersive. The record does feel this way to me—it’s not really about each individual track, but the spaces in between them and the kind of architecture that it builds. I have to give James Kogan kudos for putting this feeling so eloquently into words.
The Living Collection was built around a large ensemble, and there’s something about the way you work on transient that feels like you’re holding all of those roles yourself. How did that feel? Is it lonely, liberating, both?
It felt challenging but also interesting to try to create a solo record that has a similar degree of dynamism and conversation. I used to miss playing with others when I played solo, but now I just feel like it’s a different experience with its own reward.
The press notes describe the electronics and drums as doing very different things on this record: the electronics as something internal and protected, the drums as more exposed, confronting reality. Does that framing resonate with you? Was that contrast something you set out to create, or did it just sort of happen as you were writing and recording the record?
I do resonate with that kind of framing. It’s not something I set out to do, but something I noticed as I was putting it all together. I enjoy having the electronics be a context for which I can interact with as a drummer. It puts me in a space where I then can channel my playing because there is now a world to inhabit, a prompt to respond to.
Humor and play feel genuinely alive on this album, and I really love that about it because I feel like it’s rarer than it should be in experimental music. How do you think about those qualities in your work?
I’m so glad you resonate with that! I think it comes from allowing myself to discover what different sound worlds mean to me. Wendy Eisenberg talked about how there’s improvised music being its aesthetics, like what came out of the UK in the 70s, and then there’s improvised music that is discovering it in this Bachelardian way—like how you would become familiar with the way your cupboard at home looks and feels. I’m paraphrasing, but that really stuck with me.
transient also feels like such an interior record, turned inward, and attentive to very quiet things. Is that a place you live naturally, or is it somewhere you have to go find?
It’s a place that I’m naturally geared towards. I get overstimulated easily, so I think I’m drawn towards spaces in music that I can inhabit for a while.
This record doesn’t seem to be trying to take you anywhere specific, and I find that really freeing as a listener. How do you know when something like that is finished?
I struggle with this often—knowing when something is finished, so usually I just try to set a deadline like I did with this record. The challenge then becomes not “is there more to record or make?” but “what’s an interesting sequence or journey through this record?”
Did making transient change anything about how you think about your work? Are there things it pushed you toward that you hadn’t considered before?
I think it pushed me to explore more stillness and more cacophony. I’m attracted to both extremes, and I think there’s a lot more I’d like to make in both directions.
And, as always, to close… What are some of your favorite sounds in the world?
There’s so much but…I think I’m most inspired by sounds in the natural environment.
Foxy Digitalis depends on our awesome readers to keep things rolling. Pledge your support today via our Patreon or subscribe to The Jewel Garden. You can also make a one-time donation via Ko-fi.
