Percussionist Patrick Graham and electronic musician John Sellekaers first met in Montreal, Canada.

In 2007, John proposed the idea of a collaborative project: to re-imagine and re-mix a series of Patrick’s solo percussion improvisations. But when John moved back to his native Belgium shortly thereafter, the recordings and the project were shelved... for almost twelve years.

In 2020, the project has been reborn.

Unnatural is a collection of enigmatic pieces that oscillate between silence and chaos, a physical sound immersion into an imaginary ritual. Each track is like a narrative, perhaps more than a story, without any linear development as the effect of one being immersed in an enclosure.

Recorded only using acoustic percussion sounds as raw materials, the music has great immediacy, is clear and enveloping, enabling the smallest details to find air. A testament to both Patrick’s skill at coaxing a vast palette of textures from percussion and John’s talent as sculptor of digital music.

The press says:

* Sembra di percorrere un’attrazione di Gardaland nel semibuio, tra luci stroboscopiche, ombre minacciose, fumo e laser di occhi verdi di animatronics. Volete salire in giostra? Però può impressionarvi, dovete essere più alti di così... (Music Map, Italy - https://www.musicmap.it/recdischi/ordinaperr.asp?id=7581 )

* [...] an eight track album which covers a stylistical bandwith from eerie, desolate and post-apocalyptic Cold Ambient [...] with all sounds and atmospheres created on the sole base of acoustic percussion recordings only. Quite an impressive conceptual effort. (Nitestylez, Germany - https://www.nitestylez.de/2020/03/patrick-graham-john-sellekaers.html )

* Unnatural est le fruit d’un travail commencé il y a des années, le temps n’abattant jamais les plus décidés, une fois encore le monde actuel étant à l’image de leur musique, viscérale et imprévisible, matérialiste et immatérielle, pleine de forces tangibles et d’équilibres précaires. Captivant. (SilenceAndSound, France - https://silenceandsound.me/2020/03/25/patrick-graham-john-sellekaers/ )

* Is it Unnatural to remix works for solo percussion? Not in the minds of Patrick Graham & John Sellekaers. This intriguing project took 13 years to come to fruition; we’d rather call it unusual. (A Closer Listen - https://acloserlisten.com/2020/03/19/spring-music-preview-2020-experimental/ )

Rheo is a genre-bending collection of percussion-based contemporary chamber/art music. Utilizing his musical expertise on a plethora of percussion instruments and his familiarity with numerous musical traditions, Patrick Graham has partnered with several colleagues and the On Ensemble to create 13 original works that blend world music traditions with contemporary improvisation and composition. Accompanied here by Ben Grossman (vielle a roue), Kaoru Watanabe and Nicholas Williams (flutes), and Debashis Sinha (toy accordion), Graham draws the bulk of his compositional inspiration from India, Japan and the Middle East. Not bound by strict musical partitions, however, Graham frequently juxtaposes traditions and instruments to create an intriguing sound. One example is the opening track, “King Worm,” which combines an Indian sounding drone with Japanese taiko drum patterns. Another example is “Strata,” which sets the electronic sound of the vielle à roue (hurdy-gurdy) against a bodhran groove. This tendency to fuse musical styles gives his compositions a familiarity but from a new vantage point. Percussion is clearly at the center of every track on Rheo, and Graham really delivers on every track. His compositional approaches, groove playing and improvisation make this an excellent percussion recording.
—Terry O’Mahoney, Percussive Notes 83 (Aug/ Sept 2009)