Some albums capture a moment in a studio. Others feel like living organisms, shifting and breathing. Ocean Cage, the new release from SVBKVLT and Kuboraum Editions, falls into the latter camp.
It is a live recording of Moyang & Seaman, a performance directed by Tianzhuo Chen and starring Indonesian dancer Siko Setyanto. The work began as a larger immersive theatre project, also titled Ocean Cage, which combined installation, choreography, and live music.
The original project was sparked by the whaling traditions of Lamalera, an Indonesian village where ritual practices still govern the hunt. For the artists, those traditions became a way to think about ancestral memory and humanity’s relationship with nature. In that first iteration, Setyanto embodied three figures: the ancestor, the god Lera Wulan, and the seaman.
For Moyang & Seaman, Chen and Setyanto stripped things back. Drawing on Japanese Noh theatre while remaining grounded in Nusantara traditions, the piece became a dialogue between two figures exploring spiritual transformation. That dialogue is now preserved on vinyl. The musical backbone comes from KADAPAT, a Balinese duo whose electronic-gamelan work deals in interlocking rhythms. Bamboo and metal instruments sit alongside digital processing. Then there is Nova Ruth, born in Java, whose singing carries the weight of her years aboard a solar-powered sailing vessel. When she sings, it feels like vibration, a bodily response to the world around her.
Setyanto describes his practice as “bodily musicality,” a choreography where movement and monologue merge with music. On this recording, the voice retains that immediacy.
As Setyanto puts it: “Being on stage is like sailing together into the unknown, embracing every mystery that comes our way.” Nova Ruth, Setyanto, KADAPAT, and Chen have built something reciprocal, a shared space where music and meaning feed back into one another.
The deluxe vinyl edition includes a sewn-in booklet with sketches, essays, and photography. It is a fitting package for a work that feels assembled rather than composed, still navigating its way through the unknown.
To celebrate the album release, ASIANDOPEBOYS will present the stage adapted version of the performance across two days during the opening weekend of the 61st Venice Art Biennale. The shows are part of Kuboraum’s WE TRAVEL TO KNOW OUR OWN GEOGRAPHY event series, a three-day program also featuring performances from Joshua Serafin, Ziúr, Kianí del Valle, Frankie, Kelman Duran, and others. See flyer for details. RSVP required.
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