SoiSong is the bright, stunning, and short-lived project conceived in 2007 by Ivan Pavlov (CoH) and Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson (of Coil). The duo combined Pavlov’s uncompromisingly-visceral digital aesthetics with Sleazy's decadent, dark and whimsical approach to creation. Primarily located on the Eastern Pacific Rim, the two named the project after the Thai word for two (song), as well as the seedy red-light quarters ("gloomy Soi's, or alley-ways") of Bangkok. Together, they developed a unique, elegant, yet rather cryptical musical language.

"Finding new towers to climb"

A friendship developed after Ivan Pavlov visited Coil’s London home in the 1990s, with collaborations emerging shortly thereafter, with CoH releasing 2000’s Love Uncut on the band’s Esktaton label, and in 2004, he made an appearance on Coil’s ANS. By the mid-2000s, Christopherson moved to Bangkok. He embraced the internet, new media, and all the latest technology a working artist could enjoy to work remotely. Using a PowerBook and Ableton, he could efficiently record, mould, alter and shape the dynamics of music, and his initial plan was to record music solo. After Pavlov visited him on holiday, it became clear that the most natural - and interesting - way to move forward would be through collaboration.

Well aware of his own CV, Christopherson was in a new climate, both literal and spiritual. He was restless and ready to break through to a new era. Announcing their formation in a self-written press release, they declared: "SOISONG rejects 95% of what you can hear now, as banal and meaningless." In collaborating with Pavlov as SoiSong, Christopherson found the music's development natural: "I wouldn’t say that SoiSong really resembles anything that’s come before, particularly. But if you know, and appreciate what we both did before, then that knowledge will bring more appreciation and understanding to what we do now. It’s a progression from the past to the future."

The duo's first recordings appeared as qXn948s (reissued by Dais in 2022), which began with samples and software composed intuitively in tandem before a large monitor, then progressively processed and scrambled into bewildering arrangements of digital frequencies, alternately spartan and claustrophobic, uneasy and uncanny. Vignettes of small melody emerge and are obliterated; gamelan-esque tones spiral above cybernetic pulse programming and funereal didgeridoo; skeletal piano meanders in the distance while flickering circuitry pummels patterns of white noise. Pavlov describes his and Christopherson’s chemistry as “unspoken and sincere, and very efficient.” The music's ability to be complex and sometimes disorienting while congealing smoothly in an organic fashion is testament to the rare vision of its creators.

The title of SoiSong’s debut full-length xAj3z (reissued 2025), is a digital reference to jazz: seemingly acoustic, effervescent, boundary breaking, digital-era entertainment where light rays and tropical heat are backed up by zeroes and ones. The album is a defining statement, and an arbiter of the possibilities in the (then-)developing late-2000s music landscape. Without the desire to be commercial, or convenient, SoiSong was not beholden to the conventions of easily defined tagging, and, in their own, "new, as-yet-un-categorizable genre," with xAj3z being its masterwork.

xAj3z freely mixes music styles and combines various approaches to music-making: artificial vocalists are accompanied by real drums, jazz-noir arrangements meet the delicate melodics of the South Seas, computers are made to sound warm and organic. The album shows no apparent respect for genre-definition and aims at communicating with the listener at highest levels of emotional intensity, often lyrical, sometimes dark, on occasions amusing and even uplifting.

"Our songs, like Angels, are largely Mathematical."

Within the album's clear emphasis on bass, a distinct element are also the artificial vocalists: beautiful, otherworldly, organic yet distinctly alien. Utilizing an image of bespoke virtual singer created by the external members of the collective Han Li Chiou and Yuu Soijinsan Omiya, as Pavlov noted in 2025, "the voice nothing else but an instrument that operates with syllables, which is what makes the performance reminiscent of a language.. Yet, regardless of how poetic it might sound to a human ear, that sequence of syllables remains completely meaningless." On the original liner notes, Peter Christopherson provides "Melodic Primitives and vocalists" with Ivan Pavlov on "instruments and Pentium jazz processing."

A standout of xAj3z, "Dtorumi" is one of the most breathtaking songs in the catalogue raisonné of Christopherson & Pavlov’s combined output, dripping in pseudo jazz and trip hop atmospheres. With heavily gated drums, bass synthesizers and ghostly syllabic non-vocals, it’s a masterclass in post-90s Warp electronic music. The influence of the Eastern Pacific is awash on "j3z", with digital bird chirps, harpsichords, upright bass stabs, and the sounds of sunlight shimmering on 3D rendered shores - reminiscent of the geographically adjacent Susumu Yokota. And new to the Dais reissue is "Lom Tum Lai Kwee", a new mix of what originally was a live track, an exercise in stereo separation, step sequencers and hallucinogenic grandeur, where the of subs build into bells, twinkles, and horns recalling the heights of Tangerine Dream’s imperial era. Album closer "Ti-Di-Ti Naoo", which in the Soisong studios had the utopian provisional title "Thai Olympics Anthem", is reminiscent of the transformation of a concert hall from soundcheck to recital: a polite piano is carefully joined by live brass and strings, as the repeated non-lyric "ti di ti naoo" echoes around the room. As xAj3z ends, there’s warmth from the sun: a new dawn on the horizon line, where possibilities are endless.

Dais Records is proud to partner with Pavlov on the first official wide releases of SoiSong's music. The Dais releases of qXn948s and xAj3z are pressed on vinyl for the first time, with readily available distribution in record stores and on streaming platforms.