Cipher Productions

Leslie Keffer's re-incarnation after a nine-year hiatus (2012-2021) marks a significant moment in noise music. Her return, signaled by the release of "Temple" through Chocolate Monk, attests to her enduring talent for creating healing music and a renewed artistic vision. Coherent States is proud to release her latest album "Sanctuary," a celebration of Keffer's artistic resurgence and a recognition of her profound impact on the experimental scene. An album with its ethereal and otherworldly qualities, which embodies the transformative power of music, elevating the listening experience to a transcendental realm. "Sanctuary" is Coherent States' 50th release and we couldn't be happier with our celebration.

"Sanctuary, Leslie Keffer’s latest release in a flurry of galvanized creative projects, is her most vividly thematic to date. It is an immersive ode to Nature in all her enigmatic and tempestuous forms. Leslie Keffer's synth work evokes a layered atmosphere that explores the relationship between primal and cybernetic forces. Her voice, rising in wordless swells, is reverential and unadorned. The title track, with heartbeat steady rhythm, ascendant synths, and signal-crashed frequencies, encompasses the tone of the album as a magic circle - a tenuous serenity won with tooth and claw at the border of cityscape and primeval forest. The artist herself, largely secluded in the woods of rural Ohio in the aftermath of physical trauma, is spawning new music with the insistence of a burgeoning lifeform. To discover her work, fellow musical forager, is like stumbling upon a cluster of morels in a half burnt forest, still heady with rain smell and embers." - Aaron Fletcher

Leslie Keffer has been a key figure in American noise music since the early 2000s. She began her musical journey around 2003 in Athens, Ohio, and later became a pivotal figure in the Nashville experimental/noise scene, booking like-minded artists at Betty's Grill. Leslie's music has been released on various cassette labels of that time, such as Rampart, Gameboy, I Just Live Here, Epicene, Cherried-out Merch, and Mutter Wild, as well as on her own imprint, Action Claw. She has released numerous handmade CDRs, often packaged in unique knitted fabric pouches. She has collaborated with a wide range of artists, from Rodger Stella to Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon, and her music has been released on labels such as Tusco/Embassy, Ecstatic Peace!, and Blackest Rainbow. Since 2021, she has been highly active, releasing music on labels like Chocolate Monk, No Rent, and NO PART OF IT.

Coherent States, 2024. Recommended!