Haptic are Steven Hess, Joseph Clayton Mills & Adam Sonderberg
On 6 March 2026, Ash International will publish Ambivalence, the seventeenth release by Haptic. This live album documents the group's 2025 tour of the UK, organized to celebrate the 20th year of their ongoing collaboration, and comprises two dramatically different takes on the same piece. "Late Work I" was recorded in London, at Cafe OTO, with Mark Wastell on contrabass. "Late Work II" is a delicately layered composite of the Leeds, Brighton, and Bristol shows that also includes a handful of field recordings woven throughout. It features contributions from Linda Jankowska, Sarah Hughes, and Seth Cooke.



Across two decades of restless exploration, the Chicago trio Haptic—Steven Hess, Joseph Clayton Mills, and Adam Sonderberg—has earned a reputation for meticulously assembled recordings complemented by unpredictable, often riveting live performances that veer from rigorous minimalism to densely textured, immersive sonic environments. Consistently blurring the lines between different genres and disciplines, their experimental practice has expanded to include installations, soundtracks, and unique site-specific performances at venues such as Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art, Lincoln Park Conservatory, and Hyde Park Art Center, as well as collaborations with dancers, filmmakers, and institutions such as the Chicago Film Archive and the Art Institute of Chicago. Their recorded output has been marked by a similar breadth and eclecticism, ranging from the intricacies of Scilens (2011) to the almost monochromatic hush of Abeyance (2014) and slow-motion dissolution of Sensitive Dependence on Initial Conditions (2024).