Blowing on the Knots
- 1. Awake (Reasons for) [9:03]
- 2. Interlude 2 [1:43]
- 3. The Swarming [7:41]
- 4. Blowing on the Knots [5:16]
- 5. Interlude 1 [1:03]
- 6. The Way Things Seemed to Slip Through Fingers [8:12]
- 7. Intimate Undertow [6:33]
- 8. Anthem [3:36]
Viv Corringham: voice and electronics
Gianni Mimmo: soprano saxophone
All compositions by Viv Corringham and Gianni Mimmo
Recorded on June 19, 2025, at Interplay Studio, Milano, Italy
Sound engineering, mixing and mastering: Lorenzo Sempio
Cover photo: “Secret perspective” (2021) by Hank Quinlan
Graphics: Nicola Guazzaloca
Production: Gianni Mimmo for Rosebud Relevant records
“Blowing on the Knots” is an expression that appears in the Sura of the Dawn in the most ancient Qur’an. It refers to a practice of enchantment, of casting spells. Yet it also carries a certain ambiguity — blowing to loosen, or blowing upon what is bound so as to entangle it further…
I’m not entirely sure, but I think that as we began to move, we soon realized we were already inside a kind of tale — one that unfolded through scattered fragments, seen each time from shifting, perhaps uneven perspectives.
The way certain elements returned along the way — recalled or only hinted at — seemed to deepen this sense of being within a story quietly taking shape.
I also had the feeling of laying ideas down slowly, calmly, with the quiet confidence that there was time enough to let them breathe.
And something else strikes me: in this music, things — the sonic objects — that can pause long enough to be noticed, that seem to hold a certain authority, do so with restraint, and
then, almost immediately, they begin to tremble, as if eager to dissolve.
They stay only as long as needed — just enough to suggest.
Gianni Mimmo
Reviews
Viv Corringham is a British, New York-based vocal and sound artist and a certified facilitator of Deep Listening, whose practice explores the relations between voice, place, and shadow-walkscapes, responding with sung improvisations to both natural and urban soundscapes. Gianni Mimmo is an Italian soprano sax player, known for his unique treatment of timbres and his exploration of advanced techniques on his instrument.
The duo album of Corringham and Mimmo, Blowing on the Knots, was recorded at Interplay Studio in Milano in June 2025, and released by Mimmo’s newly-found label, Rosebud Relevant, with its perfect motto; “It is not down on any map. True places never are”. The album’s title refers to an expression that appears in the Sura of the Dawn in the most ancient Qur’an. It refers to a practice of enchantment, of casting spells (“the evil souls who blow on knots”). Yet it also carries a certain ambiguity — blowing to loosen, or blowing upon what is bound to entangle it further.
Mimmo notes that as Corringham and he began to play, “we soon realized we were already inside a kind of tale — one that unfolded through scattered fragments, seen each time from shifting, perhaps uneven perspectives”. Corringham and Mimmo enjoy an intimate, sensual, and surreal wordless conversation, at times most humane, and at other times sounding like cryptic bird-calls or enigmatic spells, when Corringham adds subtle electronics, and Mimmo employs extended breathing techniques.
These free improvised conversions – or evocative stories – evolve in their own accord, slowly and calmly breathe and take shape. Corringham and Mimmo do not attach themselves to any sonic event or gesture. Their inquisitive, subversive approach motivates them to question such sonic events, and almost immediately, they let them dissolve, as if they trust their rich poetic language and immediate camaraderie to offer more expressions for their insightful stories.