Pharmakon

Bandcamp

With the release of 2017’s transcendent, rib-crushing LP Contact, Margaret Chardiet celebrated the ten-year anniversary of her solo project, Pharmakon. The undisputed queen of NYC’s harsh noise underground, Chardiet has worked tirelessly to bring new edges, new ideas into a realm traditionally reserved for expressions of alienation and withdrawal. Employing gnarled industrial pulses, heavy power electronics, and unbridled vocal release, Chardiet envelops the audience into a heavy, collective energy. This energy/empathy has always been at the heart of Pharmakon’s ritualistic performances. With Contact, finally, Chardiet has created a body of work that reflects this exchange. As the adjoining artist statement insists: “When we pick up on transmissions between the private rooms inside our heads and the flesh of our vessels, when thought escapes its isolation and is seen, heard and understood. When our mind uses the body in order to transcend and escape it! The moments of connection/communion/CONTACT, when the veil is for a brief but glorious moment lifted, and we are free. Empathy! EMPATHY, NOW!”