Seattle-based art performance band Degenerate Art Ensemble (DAE) is in the midst of creation of their newest work, Sonic Tales. The New Museum hosts the ensemble for a week of audience interactions, rehearsals, and experiments culminating in two nights of performance that will showcase this piece in progress.

This work sets DAE’s surreal dance theater style and hallucinatory visuals against a backdrop of driving rhythms, soaring melodies, and atmospheric soundscapes, telling interwoven short stories in the form of bizarre invented fairy tales. Influenced by punk, protest, cartoons, ghost stories, and nightmares, DAE takes the viewer into otherworldly landscapes full of compelling characters and music that reveal secrets to the audience.

A talk about the creation of Sonic Tales—including discussions about DAE’s music, performance and design—will follow the performance. DAE’s videographer and set designer will be present for this discussion.