Album Battles & Silences
03 November 2025
During the First and Second World Wars, church bells were widely melted down into lethal weapons. As Europe is being sucked step by step into a new war on its own soil, HIIIT (formerly Slagwerk Den Haag) is reversing this process with Battles & Silences. In this project, weapons waste from the battlefield will form the basis for a new series of instruments and compositions in the coming years.
In the spring of 2024, eight kilograms of Ukranian bullet casings were melted into bars in Kyiv, shipped and remelted in the Netherlands into a new resonating bell that signals the start of the reversal: to turn destruction into beauty again. With Battles & Silences, HIIIT creates an alternative, immersive and imaginary landscape in which we create a space to listen to this transformation and commemorate our dire need for peace.
On 9 May 2025 at Friedensfest in Augsburg, Battles & Silences was premiered in the Moritzkirche. The performance is created by electronic duo Poulson Sq. (Anthony Fiumara & Mathijs Leeuwis) and features two HIIIT performers, Dirge Seçil Kuran and João Brito.
The album Battles & Silences combines the live performance in Augsburg with a rendering of the installation loops.
Battles & Silences is available via all streaming services and on Bandcamp.