8ULENTINA’s debut full length album ‘Surpassing Disaster’ is a research driven sonic narrative, enmeshing the theatricality of acoustic instruments from Arab orchestral and folk traditions with electronic elements. Themes of resurrection, restraint, illegibility, desire and spirituality are explored throughout tracks that move within ambient, sound design, field recordings, and dance music.

This project engages with the past as an active collaborator instead of a source of nostalgia, acknowledging the immaterial withdrawal that follows surpassing disasters and the process of making an archive and working within an existing one as an attempted act of resurrection. ’Surpassing Disaster’ references Jalal Toufic’s text ‘The Withdrawal of Tradition Past a Surpassing Disaster’. The record includes collaborative track 'GNIVILNI’ featuring cellist Rohana and vocals by Nana XOXO. GNIVILNI’'s vocals reference and abstract Assata Shakur’s poem ‘Affirmation’. The improvisational collaboration between 8ULENTINA, Nana XOXO and Rohana is a convergence of our individual practices of sonic experimentation, performance and research.

‘Surpassing Disaster’ is the first release on 8ULENTINA’s new label SILLAGE, a curatorial platform for contemporary sonic artifacts.

Esra Canoğulları, also known as 8ULENTINA, is a New York based interdisciplinary artist, music producer, and DJ. Known for his dynamic DJ sets and genre-defying compositions, 8ULENTINA’s projects are characterized by his use of sound design, percussive intensity, storytelling and theatricality. 8ULENTINA co-founded CLUB CHAI (2016–2021), a record label and curatorial platform based in Oakland, California with Lara Sarkissian and currently runs SILLAGE, a platform for contemporary sonic artifacts.

Composition, Production, Music Arrangement:
Esra Canoğulları

Creative Direction:
Esra Canoğulları

Collaborations: ‘GINVILNI’
Vocals: Nana XOXO
Cello: Rohana

Mastered by:
Esra Canoğulları

Mixed by:
Esra Canoğulları

Artwork:
Esra Canoğulları
with camera assistance by Nana XOXO

Recorded and produced in:
New York

Released by:
SILLAGE

Text references:
'The Withdrawal of Tradition Past a Surpassing Disaster' by Jalal Toufic

jalaltoufic.com/downloads/Jalal_Toufic,_The_Withdrawal_of_Tradition_Past_a_Surpassing_Disaster.pdf

'Affirmation' by Assata Shakur
https://panacheperhaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/assata-shakur-poem.jpg