Eternities

Katie Porter bass clarinet https://fromkp.com
Bob Bellerue feedback https://bobbellerue.net

Eternities is a collaboration between bass clarinetist Katie Porter and sound artist Bob Bellerue. Our work is inspired by deep presence, resonant feedback, melodic drone, and overtone magic, in the fluid realm between intention and indeterminacy. We use harmonic tones from wind instruments played within feedback systems to create multidimensional spectral drone.

Performance History

26 Jan 2023: Shift :: Eternities (Bob Bellerue & Katie Porter) // Reg Bloor // David Grubbs & Eli Winter duo LINK
5 March 2023: Avalon Lounge :: Notice Recordings Presents: Eternities (Katie Porter + Bob Bellerue) / Spreaders / Marie Carroll + Zoots Hudson / Ugly Bike + Midnight Dental LINK
29 April 2023: Ende Tymes 13 / First Unitarian Church of Brooklyn :: Eternities, gabby fluke-mogul & Nava Dunkelman, Chloe Alexandra Thompson, Raven Chacon's "Voiceless Mass" with Alex Waterman, Jessica Pavone, Katie Porter, Leila Bordreuil, Luke Stewart, Laura Ortman, gabby fluke-mogul, Laura Cocks, Nava Dunkelman, Steven Long, Yuma Uesaka, Carlo Costa, Bob Bellerue LINK
9 June 2023: Harvestworks :: Eternities performance in Bob Bellerue's "Oroboros" installation LINK

August Realness Tour 2023:: FLYER
2 August: The Fixin’ To (Portland OR)
3 August: CatMa Gallery (Olympia WA)
4 August: Gallery 1412 (Seattle WA) LINK
5 August: The Lido (Vancouver BC)
6 August: The Vault Cafe (Nanaimo BC)
8 August: Mississippi Studios (Portland OR)

Forever ASAP tour :: FLYER

Eternities "Realness" c60

Reviews

Marc Masters. “Best Experimental Music on Bandcamp. May 2023” June 7, 2023 link “Utah-based bass clarinet player Katie Porter and New York sound artist Bob Bellerue both excel at creating widescreen audio fields. So it’s natural that working together would result in soundscapes that move and breathe as if in 3-D. Realness comprises two live recordings in New York from earlier this year, each taking up about a half-hour side of tape. The earlier performance in Brooklyn is aptly-titled “Long Slow Deep,” as the duo gradually explore the lower range of the sound spectrum before escalating into piercing sine waves. “Ah Impermanence,” recorded in the Catskills, is more ferocious; though it starts with a nearly hymnal aura, Porter’s growling clarinet pushes Bellerue to match her in darkness and bite.”

Brad Rose. “The Capsule Garden, Vol 2.22” June 21, 2023 link “After being lulled into a state of calmness through quiet, bending drones and spacious resonance, Realness claws through the skin and leaves a scar. Katie Porter and Bob Bellerue concoct a blackened aural stew that churns beneath the surface and harnesses the weight of a decaying grid. Stretches tones want to break but hold on to the last fibers and hang together. Porter bends hollowed-out notes into a sonic breathing void blanketed by Bellerue’s fragmented electronics. Edges are sharpened. Distortion becomes a wave until the feedback climbs the walls and sharp frequencies begin cracking glass. Realness is visceral and hypnotizing, with Porter and Bellerue riding the chaos into the rotten core."

Vanessa Ague. “On Location. Festivals, concerts, clubs. Ende Tymes 13” The Wire Issue 471. May 2023 link “The 13th edition of Ende Tymes presents everything from guttural pulses to muted scrapes. The cavernous gothic revival church teems with anticipation for the earth-shaking noise as its dark, wooden pews fill with chattering people. And then, a rumbling tone from Katie Porter’s bass clarinet launches the concert, setting a contemplative tone that continues throughout.
Ende Tymes happens each spring and is billed as a "festival of sonic liberation." The centrepiece of this edition's second day (sic) is the New York premiere of Raven Chacon's Voiceless Mass, which reflects on colonial history. Before that monumental moment, you can hear a characteristically eclectic range of sounds: the enrapturing drones of Katie Porter and Bob Bellerue’s bass clarinet-synth (sic) duo Eternities, the frenetic energy of violinist gabby fluke-mogul and percussionist Nava Dunkelman, the crushing beats of sound artist Chloe Alexandra Thompson....”

Ende Tymes photos by Lorenzo SanJuan

Emily Harvey Foundation photos by Robert Mizaki