Konx-Om-Pax - Uaxuctum (2025)

Uaxactum marks the fifth studio album from Glasgow-based artist Tom Scholefield, better known as Konx-om-Pax.

Following 2020’s Astronomical Objects, this release transcends the boundaries of a traditional record—serving as the sonic counterpart to an ambitious audio-visual work of the same name, commissioned by Glasgow’s Cryptic.

Conceived during an artist residency at Arthouse Jersey, a former army barracks turned creative haven, the album emerged from a period of focused isolation. This environment afforded Scholefield the rare opportunity to develop both score and visuals in tandem, resulting in a deeply integrated multisensory experience. The piece premiered at Sonica 2024 in the Glasgow Science Centre IMAX Theatre, where hallucinatory visuals collided with immersive sound design. A second performance followed in May 2025 as part of the Glasgow 850 celebrations.

The Wire described the work as -

“a tentacular dreamscape where oil slick rainbow colours mutate across an IMAX cinema screen, in synesthetic flow with his tense Penderecki-inspired soundtrack.”

The album opens with La Création du Monde, a formidable slab of orchestral granular noise that evokes the chaotic intensity of Xenakis and the spectral gravitas of Scelsi. Metallic drones and percussive scrapes—sourced from a custombuilt noise box—churn in relentless motion, conjuring the image of a swarm of demonic wasps locked in eternal flight.

Yet amid the turbulence, Scholefield reveals a melodic sensibility. Tracks like Effervescence and Yudina shimmer with nostalgic undertones, their earworm motifs offering moments of levity. Ithaqua, named after the wind-wandering entity from Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos, shifts the mood entirely: a contemplative modular synth vignette drenched in analogue
spring reverb. Its drifting textures mirror the subaquatic alien form that glides hypnotically across the screen during the live performance.

Though largely beatless, Uaxactum is never inert. Gravitational Collapse ruptures the calm with a volatile surge of rhythm, born from the frenzied interplay of cross-modulated Buchla oscillators. What begins as chaos gradually crystallizes into a delicate arpeggio, revealing structure within entropy.

The album’s apex arrives with Phantasy 2, a modular trance anthem propelled by hyperactive percussive glitches and a jubilant Prophet 5 arpeggio that spirals skyward in radiant waves. It’s a moment of ecstatic release, where precision and euphoria collide.
Throughout Uaxactum, Scholefield masterfully balances abrasive textures with elegiac beauty, crafting a soundscape that oscillates between haunting minimalism and transcendent, otherworldly bliss.