Taking Off: Un.procedure

Un.procedure is a band born out of projects and ideas as opposed to weekly jam sessions. The trio, split between Berlin and Birmingham, comprises Piera Onacko on synths, Cassie Kinoshi on alto saxophone and electronics, and Nathan England-Wood on drums and electronics. Occasionally, an honorary fourth member is added to the mix, Belgrade-based visual artist Guri Bosh. So far, the group has released an eponymous debut EP, produced an audio-visual installation titled Themory, and as we speak, they are preparing a new piece for this year’s Cheltenham Jazz Festival, involving an expanded line-up which includes strings and woodwind. From speaking to the band, it seems like the long-distance set-up has worked surprisingly well.

“Creatives tend to be a little bit scatterbrained,” explains Piera Onacko. “So it’s nice to be able to plan and fix the times when we all meet. Our visual artist, Guri Bosh, lives in Belgrade. So we often just plan these big sessions where we’ll get together and work stuff out. We just put it in the diary three months in advance and then we’re together for a very concentrated amount of time.”

This task-based method of music-making perhaps explains Un.procedure’s stylistically varied output. Their first EP, released in 2022, is a fast-paced, nu jazz voyage, led by cathartic melodies and propulsive rhythms. ‘Themory’, which Nathan describes as a fixed media piece, could almost be from a different band. Premiered and recorded at the 2023 Manchester Jazz Festival, it’s more ambient than anything else, a fluctuating soundscape of electronic layers and site-specific field recordings, which feels simultaneously forward-facing yet nostalgic.

It’s not a surprise then to learn that the band members share a wide-ranging pool of influences. Nathan and Piera initially connected over free jazz and free improvisation – Piera cites the iconic Don Cherry as an example. Cassie describes an early interest in electronic music which began in her teens, mentioning composer Max De Wardener as an example. Beyond that, it gets more eclectic. Yellow Magic Orchestra, Heiner Goebbels, and more recently, archival Ukrainian film music. Nathan also identifies German experimental rock as a strong influencer:

“There’s also the German kind of 'Kozmische' bands like Can and Faust and Neu! and stuff. That was definitely an early one that we said we want to emulate, all of that in the structural parts of the songs, yeah.”

“A lot of the music we make has these kinds of hypnotic, repetitive sections, it seems,” Piera adds. “I think the way these songs are structured is that we have these open bits where we just kind of improvise, usually within a specific tonality, although sometimes it does go a bit off-piste.”

Within this myriad of influences, improvisation is at the core of Un.procedure’s creative process.

“The first EP is very, very improvised,” explains Nathan. “We had some outlines of stuff and a lot of it came together when we were actually recording.”

“Someone might bring a phrase or a chord progression or a rhythm into the space that we then develop together,” echoes Cassie as she describes the band’s general approach. “A lot of it has come from improvising in the space. Or listening to synthesised textures that Piera might have made. So yeah, it's a really collaborative process.”

There’s an ever-growing list of contemporary jazz keyboardists, including the likes of Maria Chiara Argiró and Elliott Galvin, who have found a new creative outlet via the synthesiser, and Piera is among them.

“It really changed how I play, just purely from the kind of functionality of a synthesizer compared to a piano. It’s not like you can play big voicings, or well you can with some. What I [started] doing was more focusing on lines and how to live manipulate sounds as I went, and integrate them in.”

Cassie has also gone electric through using effects pedals with her saxophone, and the impact is clearly felt. In tracks like ‘Polytunnel’ and ‘Fall and Flatten’ from Un.procedure, her tone reverberates menacingly, packed with heavy delays and reverbs, channelling Shabaka Hutchings in The Comet is Coming, but with an 1980s sci-fi twist.

And, as Cassie notes, their music is purposefully cinematic.

“The visual side is integral I would say. For example, we’re writing this new commission for Cheltenham. Guri Bosh is in the room with us, in his corner, making his visuals. And then us, we’re writing the music as he’s making certain visual elements, and both of these then influence each other in the space.”

She adds that a future goal is to incorporate visuals into every performance, irrespective of the size of the venue. It’s an ambitious vision, but one that spells out the band’s multi-disciplinary approach to performance, and shows their readiness to experiment and improvise beyond the traditional confines of their instruments.

This article originally appeared in the May 2024 issue of Jazzwise. Never miss an issue – subscribe today