Noh Age - The Long Ear Noh Age

The Long Ear is the debut album on Kou Records by Noh Age — Charmaine Lee (parabolic microphone, feedback, voice), John McCowen (contrabass clarinet, Bb clarinet, recorder), and Li-Chin Li (sheng) — recorded live over three days at Brooklyn Recording in March 2026 and produced by Randall Dunn (Sunn O))), Oneohtrix Point Never).

The parabolic microphone carries its own history: a Cold War surveillance instrument, designed to listen at a distance, to locate and amplify what would otherwise remain inaudible. Here it is turned inward — not toward an enemy but toward sound itself, routed through four vintage tube amplifiers. The dish hunts resonances transmitted across space, locking onto frequencies generated by contrabass clarinet, sheng, and voice until feedback ignites — a fourth performer with its own unpredictable agency.

The result is spectral music at its most visceral — rooted in the tradition of Gérard Grisey, Kaija Saariaho, and Iancu Dumitrescu, but arriving from the stakeout, the listening post, the wire. Across six pieces built from cellular automaton compositional frameworks and graphic scores, the trio moves between extreme registers — CBC fundamentals against dense sheng cluster voicings, the crystalline upper partials of recorder and mini sheng — feedback wandering through all of it, thickening, erasing, returning.

Front and back cover artwork by Shintaro Kago — Tokyo-based manga artist and pioneer of the ero guro tradition, known internationally for his work on Flying Lotus's You're Dead! (Warp, 2014). Recorded, mixed, and produced by Randall Dunn. Additional synths and sound design by Randall Dunn. Mastered by Ben Greenberg. Dolby Atmos mixes by Ben Greenberg. Lacquer cut by Paul Gold at Salt Mastering.