Julia E. Dyck and Stefan Christoff present A Silver Moon Mix

Tiohtià:ke / Montreal musician and community organizer Stefan Christoff has featured on this site many times over the last decade, including in his collaborations with Sam Shalabi, with his brother Jordan Christoff (as Anarchist Mountains), and with Nick Schofield (as rêves sonores).  He’s also produced mixes for us as well, both solo and with Jordan, often highlighting his extended network of activist musicians based in Montreal and around the world. Julia E. Dyck is a musician who splits her time between Brussels and Tiohtià:ke / Montreal, as well  as member of the collective which co-hosts the long-running community radio program ffiles (fka XX Files). The two have joined forces for their debut release, A Silver Moon X, out now on Aural Canyon records in Texas. To celebrate the release, the duo have created this special mix for A CLOSER LISTEN that features some work from their album and also works by friends and artists they enjoy.

MINI-INTERVIEW

Please introduce yourselves. 

Stefan: I am an artist, musician and community organizer who lives in Tiohtià:ke / Montréal. I am excited to share work from the album, A SILVER MOON X, which I worked on with Julia E Dyck. This project is a departure from others that I have worked on as it involves storytelling and fantasy, a visit to dream spaces. Generally my work as an artist is rooted in community-based relationships and attempts to create alternative spaces in society to think differently and visit ideas outside of the mainstream parameters as to how both the arts and society more generally is guided and forced to go by structures of colonial power. 

Julia: I’m an artist, hypnotist and radio producer living and working between Brussels and Tiohtià:ke / Montréal. I describe my practice as “relational and speculative” – I do a lot of participatory work and storytelling / worldbuilding. 

Tell us about your new collaboration, A Silver Moon X.

Stefan: This project emerged from a relationship with Julia that developed at CKUT 90.3FM. I host a weekly show that explores the intersections of art and activism. Julia was involved in the collective show FFiles for many years. That is a weekly show associated with Ada X gallery. 

Over time Julia and I began speaking about working on a collaboration and started sharing files and also texts. Actually the project first started via text, we slowly worked to input memories of dreams and some creative texts about city life into a document. Over time we both shared ideas and worked to shape some texts, then also we started sharing audio files. Also we would take walks together, sometimes coffee in the city and through this developing friendship we worked on the album A SILVER MOON X.

Julia: I think this project ties together our collective desire for change through our individual practices; Stefan’s activist work and my practice of speculation and fantasy. The album is something between documentary and science fiction and definitely has a radiophonic quality to it.

Tell us a bit more about the mix.

Stefan: This mix features tracks that I picked which I feel point to the diversity of sounds and materials that we worked with in both making this specific album, but also that influence our creative work in general. Overall this mix is also a shout out to artists we love, some who are friends and collaborators. Hopefully this mix speaks to the sense of power in community that drives our respective work in meaningful ways. 

And finally, anything else you want to plug?

I would plug the fact that CKUT 90.3FM where I first met Julia has a new website which is now streaming, you can view it at www.ckut.ca.

TRACKLISTING