The Cosmic Asunder is an ambient electro-acoustic improvising band comprising Harriet Butler, Gary JC and Kris T Reeder. The group formed shortly after Kris and Gary started to meet up in early 2016 to play together. Both Kris and Gary had studied for an MA in Composition and Sonic Art and studied for a year together attending Paul Whitty's classes at Oxford Brookes where they first met in late 2014. The pair held sporadic sessions at Oxford Brookes University (in the same rooms where the 1984ensemble formed in 2013) and began improvising with Gary playing a variety of electronic instruments, including drums machines, bassline makers and analogue fx pedals. Gary recorded most of the material that Kris and Gary created.
The trio of Kris, Gary and Harriet first met at the Politics of Ambience conference in June 2016 organised by former MA student Sam Kidel and featuring David Toop amongst others (Kris performed solo improvisations on the Trombone at the conference). The trio attend a session in which a large group of people including David Toop participated in an automatic, sound motivated writing session. Shortly after, Kris met Harriet and the trio agreed to meet up for sessions at Oxford Brookes where both Gary and Harriet were completing MA's.
From mid-2016 the trio recorded a number of sessions at Oxford Brookes with Harriet playing a variety of instruments, Gary playing electronics and Reeder playing Trombone. In the few sessions Harriet was not around, Kris and Gary would record with Kris occasionally switching to voice, but this was rare. The group decided initially on the name 'Buried Head Collective' in mid-2016 after each person submitted a single word and Gary curated the words into a phrase with defined meaning. However, Kris proposed in December 2016 that the group change it's name to make it more accessible. Thus, after each group member had chosen a word Kris put them together to form 'Cosmic Aether Society'. The group though were still unhappy with the name so once again changed it in February 2017 to 'The Cosmic Asunder', again following the one person, one word policy.
The group's first EP 'The Exit Mill' was released in March 2017 and was produced by Gary JC who edited/mastered some earlier recordings. Monolith Cocktail gave the EP a favourable review. The group were reluctant to release anything but felt that having an EP to listen to for gigging and promo purposes might be useful. Kris T Reeder refused to listen to recorded material insisting that Gary JC should select/edit/master appropriate material. Kris T Reeder still refuses to engage with the selection of material for release or listen to recorded material. Artwork for the release was produced by Gary JC's wife who came up with a few designs which were considered by the group.
Timeline:
2014 - Kris and Gary meet on MA course. 2016 (early) - Kris and Gary begin duo recording sessions. 2016 (June) - Kris, Gary and Harriet meet at Politics of Ambience Conference. 2016 (July onwards) - Kris, Gary and Harriet hold regular recording sessions. 2016 (December) - Name changed from 'Buried Head Collective' to 'Cosmic Aether Society'. 2017 (February) - Name changed to 'The Cosmic Asunder'. 2017 (March) - The Exit Mill EP released