APLR Presents: Audrey Chen + MANAS
Thursday, April 30th, 2026
AyurPrana Listening Room - 312 Haywood Rd, Asheville, NC 28806
Doors 6PM || Event 7PM
Audrey Chen
AUDREY CHEN is a 2nd generation Chinese/Taiwanese-American musician who was born into a family of material scientists, doctors and engineers, outside of Chicago in 1976. Parting ways with the family convention, she turned to the cello at age 8 and voice at 11. After years of classical and conservatory training in both instruments, with a resulting specialization in early and new music, she parted ways again in 2003 to begin new negotiations with sound in order to discover a more individually honest aesthetic.
Since then, using the voice, cello and analog electronics, Chen’s work delves deeply into her own version of narrative and non-linear storytelling. A large component of her music is improvised, is completely un-processed and her approach to this is extremely personal and visceral. Her playing explores the combination and layering of an analog synthesizer, preparations and traditional and extended techniques in both the voice and cello. She works to join these elements into a singular ecstatic personal language.
For nearly two decades, her predominant focus has been her solo work with the voice, cello and electronics, but she has more recently, in the last four years, begun to shift back towards the exploration of the voice as a primary instrument.
Aside from her solo concerts, Chen performs currently in her longest running duo project since 2005 with Phil Minton; as BEAM SPLITTER with trombonist Henrik Munkeby Nørstebø; as MOPCUT with Lukas Koenig and Julien Desprez; in duo with electronic music artist Kaffe Matthews; with American sound artist, Nick Klein, in duo for voice/live digital process with Mexican artist Hugo Esquinca and in trio with Vietnamese/German and Singaporean artists Nguyễn + Transitory.
Among her more recent album releases include, "By the Stream" with Phil Minton - Subrosa (Brussels), "Hiss & Viscera" with Richard Scott - Sound Anatomy (Berlin), "Rough Tongue", BEAM SPLITTER'S debut LP - Corvo Records (Berlin) and latest “Split Jaw” on Tripticks Tapes (US), her solo album "Runt Vigor" - Karl Records (Berlin) and three records with MOPCUT, “Accelerated Frames of Reference” - Trost (AT), “Jitter”, A split release on Opal Tapes (UK) and Ventil Records (AT), and “RYOK” on Heat Crimes (GR).
Chen has performed across Europe, Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan, Taiwan, Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, Canada and the USA.
MANAS
MANAS was formed in 2012 in Asheville, NC by guitarist Tashi Dorji and drummer Thom Nguyen. The intensity of their live shows, characterized by Dorji’s angular guitar preparations and Nguyen’s multi-limbed maelstroms exploding outwards in parallel, immediately caught the ear of the sub-underground.
Originally from Bhutan, where he absorbed American and UK hard rock and heavy metal via bootleg cassettes while surrounded by a family full of folk musicians, Dorji arrived stateside for college and immersed himself in Asheville’s DIY punk scene and formative listening sessions with records by Albert Ayler, John Coltrane, and Derek Bailey. It was there that he met Nguyen, a Vietnamese-Mississippian transplant who had been playing in local free rock outfits Nest Egg and Mendocino. The two hit the ground running, funneling their love of grindcore, black metal, free jazz, noise, and other extreme sonics, along with burgeoning anarchist/mutual-aid politics, into their newfound freedom in improvisation.
Relentless woodshedding and touring on both sides of the Atlantic has long since solidified their reputation as an undeniable live act. Their post-hardcore take on improvised music has found them space on bills and collaborations with Nepali grindcore band Chepang, heavy music headliners SUMAC and Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and free improv luminaries like Joe McPhee, Susie Ibarra, Zoh Amba, Audrey Chen, Michael Zerang, and countless others.
Multi-instrumentalist Che Chen (of 75 Dollar Bill) has been a longtime friend of the band and frequent collaborator over the years, and now joins MANAS as second guitarist/aux percussionist. His guitar can be foil or twin to Dorji’s, while his battery of small percussion and homemade instruments may refract Nguyen's multi-directional rhythms or create wholly other textures.
For this special show at AAI, MANAS expands further into a quartet (or “double duo”?) with the addition of drummer Lesley Mok. Based in New York, Mok’s rhythmic language is inspired by Afro-Cuban folkloric music, subtle textural percussion, Free Jazz, ambient, and electronic music. They lead the large ensemble The Living Collection and are part of the collaborative group History Dog with Shara Lunon, Chris Williams, and Luke Stewart.
