PEOPLE SOUND proudly presents Chloe Kim’s 4th solo drumming release “100 Hours”.

Chloe is a firm fixture of the Australian improvised music community, with recent solo performances at the Sydney Opera House, Museum of Contemporary Art, and Powerhouse Museum.

In February 2023, Chloe undertook an endurance performance at the MONA FOMA festival in Hobart, Tasmania. She performed 10 hours of solo improvised drumming each day for 10 days, accruing 100 hours by the festival’s end.

“I wanted to take some time to purely focus on my drumming without the distractions of daily life, to improve technically and explore new ideas by drumming for many hours a day. I mentioned this idea to Brian Ritchie, and he suggested that I could do it over the 10 days of the MONA FOMA festival. I said yes straight away, and started training my body and mind.”

All 100 hours of drumming were documented on a small camera, and a month after returning to Sydney she took time to review all of the footage and take notes of her favourite moments.

This recording captures Chloe revisiting some of her favourite musical ideas that emerged over the course of the 10 days, in concise, intense bursts.

“It’s like a tasting platter of musical ideas”.

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*Some notes from Chloe on each piece*

02 – Garbage Truck – On the second day of the performance at the Royal Park Launceston, there was a garbage truck reversing, making a constant beeping pulse. 
I decided to take the pulse as an improvisational prompt and incorporate it into what I was playing.
03 – X – Emerged while focusing on my arm movements (making an X shape)
04 – Christmas Bell – Featuring bells that I purchased during Christmas 2022
05 – Watta Gatta (왔다 갔다) – Translating as ‘comes and goes’ in Korean
08 – For Jacques – Jacques Emery was my personal assistant (organising meals and setting up the video camera) and cheer squad throughout the whole 100 Hours performance
09 – Hot Rods – Imagining my range of percussion instruments like a cheese platter
10 – For Milson – Milson Barnard set up and packed down the drums for me everyday morning and evening
11 – Dance! – Groove which Jacques and Milson danced along to
12 – Floor Rattle – Close observation of the floor-tom handling different rates
13 – Mok-Tak – Korean woodblock for Buddhist monks
17 – For Kat – Kat Trail took care of all the logistics for the 100 Hours project, including flowers, champagne, and Korean food at the finale.
18 – Brush the Floor – I spent many hours playing the floor tom with brushes
20 – Mute – Exploring the reaction time of the drum skins
21 – For Brian – Brian Ritchie, the music director of MONA has been supporting my music and creative journeys since 2016, including the 100 Hours project
22 – For Jonathan – At the 81 Hours mark into the performance, I almost considered giving up solo drumming forever. I got out of this dilemma by imagining that I was playing along to two very low notes coming from Jonathan Zwartz’s bass (whom I’ve been playing a lot with recently).
24 – Flora Arrives – My friend Flora Carbo (saxophonist) travelled from
Melbourne to Hobart and arrived at the 89 hours mark to support my last performance day
25 – Abbey Arrives - My sister Abigail Kim arrivedfrom Sydney at 93 hours
26 – Hinano Arrives – My friend/housemate (saxophonist) Hinano Fujuisaki arrived from Sydney at 93 hours
27 – Charlie Arrives - My friend (saxophonist) Charlie Sundborn arrived from Sydney at 95 hours
28 – Callum Arrives - My friend (trombonist) Callum Mintzis arrived from Melbourne at 95 hours