Biography
All Seeing Hand are a Wellington experimental trio who built their music at the intersection of improvisation, drone and ethnographic sound. Drummer Ben Knight and turntablist David Morrison (aka Alphabethead) began performing together as a duo — fully improvised, sometimes with zero rehearsal — before vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Jonny Marks completed the lineup. Marks had spent 2006–2008 in Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang studying khoomei (Mongolian throat singing) and returned to Wellington to find Morrison and Knight already deep into their improvisational practice. Walking in on a rehearsal in an old church, he simply started singing over them. “It was so full and loud but we could still hear it well and we just had a really good half an hour of playing together,” Knight later recalled.
The group’s instrumentation is singular: Marks plays Synthi AKS synthesiser, jaw harp, tovshuur (a Mongolian two-stringed instrument), and sings using both traditional Western voice and khoomei; Morrison deploys turntables, electronics, and a no-input mixer; Knight drives the ensemble on drums. All recordings were made at Scumbag College, a DIY studio under Wellington Airport run by engineer Vanya Vitelli. Their five studio albums — The All Seeing Hand (2011), Mechatronics (2013, Muzai/Tenzenmen), Fog & Debris (2014, Muzai, MUZ149), Sand to Glass (2016, Muzai) and Syntax Error (2018, Sonorous Circle) — document a practice that resists easy categorisation, drawing on Central Asian vocal traditions, British analogue synthesis, and the lineage of noise and free improvisation.
A unique band that defy convenient stereotyping… a unique voice, which is rare.
Nich Cunningham, Under the Radar
Live, All Seeing Hand are known for theatrical spectacle as much as sonic intensity — including “The Blob,” in which all three members perform inside a giant pink latex suit. Collaborating with visual artist Lady Lazer Light (Erika Sklenars) for projection mapping, they have performed at Camp A Low Hum, WOMAD, Splore, Lines of Flight (Dunedin), Newtown Festival, St Jerome’s Laneway Festival, and Now Fest.
One of the most adventurous sonic risk takers in the country.
Under the Radar, on Syntax Error
Members
- Jonny Marks (voice/throat singing/Synthi AKS, All Seeing Hand)
- Ben Knight (drums/percussion, Rogernomix, Unsanitary Napkin, All Seeing Hand)
- David Morrison (turntables/electronics, Alphabethead, Bad Taste, All Seeing Hand)
Discography
- The All Seeing Hand [Digital] (2011, self-released)
- Mechatronics [CD] (2013, Muzai Records)
- Fog & Debris [Digital] (2014, Muzai Records, MUZ149)
- Sand to Glass [Digital] (2016, Muzai Records)
- Syntax Error [Digital] (2018, Sonorous Circle)