We have a new show coming up at The Golden Lion on the 6th April! Super excited to have three brilliant artists showing us their new work. Read on for details…

‘AIR LOOM: Sarah Angliss with Sarah Gabriel and Stephen Hiscock’,

Composer and performer Sarah Angliss presents Air Loom, her new album of dreamlike music, distilling a lifetime’s work with ancient instruments and extraordinary electroacoustic techniques. Centre stage is the clavisimbalum, a sonorous, fourteenth-century cousin of the harpsichord. Its plucked, soft iron strings ring with a rich, dark reverberance – a sound that hails from Eastern European folk and the Renaissance court. Angliss adds voices in close harmony, recorder, theremin, percussion and robotic carillon, an instrument she devised and built to play bells at inhuman speeds, creating a haze of delicate, metallic sound.

Angliss is joined by vocalist Sarah Gabriel and percussionist Stephen Hiscock. As they play, their sounds are deftly contorted, fragmented and recombined using Angliss’ digital inventions. Her own variant of the loop pedal stretches every strand of sound subtly as it plays. This transforms the most consonant music into something more angular as it makes beguiling musical collisions – the precarious harmonic terrain of Angliss’ signature soundworld: “Music possessed of an eerie instability…a whole universe unto itself brimming with fresh propositions and new directions…a shimmering minimalist masterpiece’ (Wire Magazine, May 2017).

Support from:

BEN GWILLIAM

Ben will perform with super 8 projectors, Ice and homemade electronics in an attempt to amplify the space between microphone and medium.

Ben Gwilliam (1980) is an artist whose work spans sound, film, installation & performance. His work explores how the mechanics of sound media reflect & distort human perception, often manipulating the space(s) & moment of experience. His fascination drives a curiosity that forms as durational performances and installations, film & video works and writing. Ben Gwilliam (1980) is an artist whose work spans sound, film, installation & performance. His work explores how the mechanics of sound media reflect & distort human perception, often manipulating the space(s) & moment of experience. His fascination drives a curiosity that forms as durational performances and installations, film & video works and writing. He is currently completing his Phd sound and Film at the Sonic Arts Research Unit, Oxford Brookes.

and

EMBLA QUICKBEAM

Rowan Forestier-Walker is a sound and visual artist based in Todmorden West Yorkshire, She records and performs under the name Embla Quickbeam. Embla’s slow burning tapes that secrete captured unreal moments.

BUZZED FOR THIS ONE! See ya there.. tickets on door. Faceburgh page here.  Ps yes the trains are running to Todmorden again, hurray! So last train friendly times apply here.

Heya,

I’ve not done an update for a bit so here is one. Few things to report.

First off I’m in residency at Huddersfield Uni from now until November which is really exciting. I’m there to write a new piece for the 66 speaker surround sound set up they have for Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. I met with the other 4 women composers taking part in the programme a couple of weeks ago and everyone was so nice and supportive. Really happy to have this opportunity and can’t wait to write the piece. Read more about this here –

https://hcmf.co.uk/meet-the-participants/

Few gigs coming up soon –

• 21st March – The Slowest Lift in Arcade Coffee, Huddersfield 
• 26th March – solo guitar show at The Golden Lion, Todmorden 
• 13th April – The Slowest Lift and Kelly Jayne Jones at The Roundy, Cork
• 14th April – The Slowest Lift and Kelly Jayne Jones at Jigsaw, Dublin

Best poster by Julian Bradley for Ireland shows below.

New The Slowest Lift photo by the fabulous Nic Chapman (who took that photo of me on the hill a couple of years ago. Nic rules)

Last bit of news for now is I got asked to write about working for Rhythm Time and how working with music and young people has had an impact on my musical practice for The Wire mag. It’s part of an issue called ‘The Great Learning’ and I suggest you get a copy because it’s really interesting.

ta, me duckies x

These are a few shots from when The Slowest Lift supported Thurston Moore at The Trades Club in Hebden Bridge. Such an awesome night! Cheers to John McMahon and Andy Wild for the photos.

BONNACONS OF DOOM:
This elusive and constantly-evolving Liverpool collective harness the ritualistic and cathartic power of repetition, monstrous riffs and squalls of atonal noise in their unique take on rhythmic heavy psych. Blending vocals that range from hypnotic mantras to explosive psychic outbursts with brutal rhythmic pummelling and glacial electronics.

Downstairs at the Golden Lion, entrance is free but donations of around £5 would be appreciated to pay the bands.

Broadcasting a special Tor FM episode tonight on NTS Manchester. Listen in here https://www.nts.live/shows/livefrommanchester between 7 and 8pm!

I’m going to be doing a trombone demonstration at this event here in Todmorden. Ali Robertson of Usurper is awesome so try and come to this pls. Click on image above to buy tickets and note early start time of 5 – 7pm, 27th Jan 2019

Hello everyone…

I wanted to write a little sum up of my musical activities this year in a blog form so here we go. I’ve had a good time generally which is pretty good considering my zen has been seriously messed with by politics. I was happy to spend a bit of time performing in Europe while it is still possible and easy to do so.

I had a great time this year performing other people’s music which is something I use to do a lot of when I was younger so it’s been brilliant to get back into the swing of it. Performing in ‘Landscape’ by Trevor Wishart and Mick Banks was really fun as was playing trombone and singing in my first opera (a micro one!) for Rebecca Lee and Nastassja Simensky (see pic below). I also had an amazing time joining a few people in Leeds for a one off show covering songs from 1968 for The Scalarama Film Festival. Turned the sax solo in Donovan’s ‘Get thy bearings’ into a way better slide trombone version.

I was invited over to Rotterdam’s Worm to lead an Iron Maidens workshop, as always, I was amazed by what the group could produce in one day. Teaching for Rhythm Time has been as fun as ever! I’ve been working in Sure Start Centres teaching pre-school aged kids basic music theory and it’s fascinating what they can pick up. I also worked with teenagers at the Sound and Summer school for the second year running as assistant composer for the cross cultural composition group. Hear a podcast about the school here if you’re interested.

Delphine Dora and I released ‘Divine Ekstasys’ in April, played two shows in The Netherlands and were lucky enough to perform with Wolf Eyes in Paris – crazy evening.

Had a wild time with The Slowest Lift involving much time in a car. Our mini tour with Richard Youngs and Noel Meek was really fun. Think my fave gig with Julian this year was at The Spit and Sawdust skate park in Cardiff. We have 2 gigs booked for next year and a record almost completed.

Solo music wise, I’m back on the guitar song writing and am working on a new record with the working title ‘Goodbye Gemini’. Hoping to have that finished before summer.

Tor Festival at The Trades Club was a blast, hoping to do something there again next July. Tor FM continues each month on Camp Radio.. https://www.mixcloud.com/mysofcalledlife/

Can’t think of anything else right now. Cheers for reading, coming to gigs we do as Tor Bookings or any I play round the country.. and if you’ve purchased anything from me this year thanks for that as well. Have a lovely, stress free, holiday season.

Sof x