Paul Jebanasam

Sri Lankan-born Paul Jebanasam had been working within the duo Moving Ninja during his Sydney years when a relocation to Bristol, the U.K. center of bass music, prompted him to move beyond the dubstep orbit of that project. Elements such as intros and breakdowns in dance tracks drew his attention, while an interest in liturgical forms steered him toward contemporary classical composition. Encouraged by experimental colleagues Roly Porter along with Emptyset members James Ginzburg and Paul Purgas, he issued his initial recording in 2011 as a live document titled Music for the Church of St. John the Baptist. The piece was created for the reopening event of his own Subtext label and featured Jebanasam directing viol, viola, and violin, blending these with electronics and the venue’s natural resonance to reimagine the material. His first full-length effort, Rites, followed in 2013; drawing from both peer influences and earlier performances, the record earned praise for its shifts between dense, forceful sonic environments and delicate, elevating melodic sections. Continuum arrived in 2016, presenting a layered, volatile, and at times turbulent exploration of cosmic scale.