KOGG is an experimental electronic collaboration between Selena Kay and Cerys Hogg, a fusion of their diverse musical backgrounds and collective interests. Formally trained in classical and jazz disciplines respectively KOGG’s music is a synthesis of composed, improvised and generative elements creating a kaleidoscopic sound world of elastic rhythms and shifting melodies, fabricated with an ear for both the familiar and the unknown.
KOGG’s sonic palette is derived from real and home-made instruments, objects and manipulated vocals. Source sounds include ping pong balls bouncing on drums, train whistles, elastic bands, wax cylinder recordings and trombone. Their material is fed through a variety of transformational processes utilising an array of hardware and software instruments, taking the listener on a multi-textured musical journey which is rhythmically exciting and sonically rich.
In 2021 KOGG were selected for a creative residency at Britten Pears Arts in Snape Maltings, Suffolk. After a week developing their music for the stage, KOGG performed at the Festival of New showcasing music from their upcoming debut album.
Following on from the success of the performance KOGG were commissioned to create and perform a new work at the Aldeburgh Festive 2022. The work was inspired by Bartók's explorations of folk music and we wrote for live electronics and string quartet. We were joined by the fantastic Ligeti Quartet.
In January 2023 KOGG came runners-up in Nonclassical Battle of the Bands at the Moth Club Hackney. It was a packed out night with a great and responsive audience. Nonclassical treated us to a video shoot with State 51. We recorded our piece 'Spanners'. Watch it here
Since then we have performed at venues including Iklectik, London where we reworked our music for ambisonic surround sound.
In November 2023 we performed at Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. We will also be part of their Fielding Talent programme which we are looking forward to.
Cerys Hogg and Selena Kay are both formally trained musicians, with diverse musical experience; Cerys’ background is in jazz improvisation while Selena had a classical training, specialising in contemporary composition. Cerys plays piano, drums and percussion, and vocals. Selena plays trombone, piano and vocals.
Selena had a classical training and as a post-graduate gained a Dutch Government Scholarship to study with Louis Andriessen at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. She received various prizes for her compositions and has had her music broadcast on BBC Radio 3. She has a particular interest in a polyphonic and polyrhythmic approach to composition with influences ranging from Renaissance music to non-Western folk music and Twentieth Century composition techniques.
Cerys originally studied Fine Art focusing on performance and time-based art while also developing her skills as a musician. She gained a wealth of experience as a vocalist, pianist, drummer and band leader. She was awarded a scholarship to study on the Post-Graduate course in Jazz and Studio Music at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She developed her personal voice as an improvising vocalist and honed her harmonic language and approach to arranging and composition.
Cerys has been a maker of objects from an early age, particularly with a sonic or kinetic element, and interaction with these objects often forms a starting point for KOGG’s compositional process. Selena has always had a fascination with musical pattern; working with ideas such as melodic and rhythmic permutations, phase shifting, and metrical dissonance. As KOGG they combine their skills in composition and improvisation, creating new instruments and developing their own distinctive sonic world.