Lia Kohl

Experimental cellist and sound artist Lia Kohl has announced her new album, Various Small Whistles and a Song, which takes direct inspiration from Ed Ruscha’s 1964 artist book, Various Small Fires and Milk. Listen to a three-track preview, one of which features claire rousay. The suite guides listeners from the bustling streets of China to rousay’s LA home, and finally to Kohl’s own kitchen in Chicago.

Three pillars of Chicago’s experimental scene—Whitney Johnson, Lia Kohl, and Macie Stewart—have formed a new trio. Their debut single, “Stone Piece I,” out now on International Anthem, transforms improvised strings and vocals into a textural soundscape using analog tape loops. The release previews their live debut at Chicago’s Sound & Gravity Festival on September 11th and a full album planned for 2026.

Experimental, trippy, fiercely creative and quite mesmerising, Whitney Johnson & Lia Kohl’s ‘For Translucence’ is a tricky album to pin down, but you’ll be glad you gave it the time and space to reveal itself.

Chicago-based Whitney Johnson and Lia Kohl announce their debut album, For Translucence, and share their new single and video “73|74”. Their goal is “for translucence”: for each successive part to add clarity to its others.