SAISIONSCAPE: DECAY WITH WILLIAM BASINSKI, SARAH ANGLISS, KEMPER NORTON, LISA BUSBY
+ JUST ADDED - HOWLROUND, KEPLA + HOOFUS
Saisonscape: Decay will be the third installment of Art Assembly’s Saisonscape - a quarterly series that investigates the seasons through experimental music and sonic art.
Taking place in autumn, Decay reflects on the natural cycle of the season. Leaf litter and organic material dropping to the ground and breaking down into one. Renewing the soil with a rich and nourishing composition. For this edition of the series we focus on artists who use archives of field recordings, tape loop, folk story and who layer instrumentation, objects and found sound without hierarchy. Sounds, ideas and material mulching into new combinations, providing fertile ground for unexpected work and inspiring performance.
William Basinski takes us on a hauntingly melancholic journey into autumn through the theme of Decay with his latest compositions Cascade and The Deluge. Basinski’s headlining tour will run over three consecutive nights in September in Cafe Oto London (15 Sept), Islington Mill Salford (16 Sept) and The Kazimier Liverpool (17 Sept). Cascade features an old and simple lilting piano tape loop set to repeat endlessly on a re-imagined landscape echoing the lapsing of time, whilst in The Deluge, Basinski's enduring motifs flow more fiercely much like the abrasiveness of time passing until the final moments, when the pianos temporal existence fades and breaks, to be replaced by a brief crackling orchestra eclipsing and re-orientating the piece, revealing the decomposition of time that has passed.
The Deluge - LISTEN
Sarah Angliss and Kemper Norton headline the second investigation into Decay taking place in November with Lisa Busby. Sarah Angliss performs Ealing Feeder, her forthcoming album infused with half-remembered stories from Edward Lovett’s Magic in Modern London (1927) and other archival sources. A composer, thereminist and maker of robotic instruments, Sarah uses electronics, ancient instruments and her startling musical automata to explore resonances between European folklore and machines. In this new work, Sarah conjures amulets in the surgical museum, shape shifters, ritualistic magic, vardøgers, fever vans and more.
The Bows -
Kemper Norton's obsessions include the changing landscape, particularly that of Cornwall and Sussex, lost or neglected social history, real and imagined communities and both traditional and modern folklore. His upcoming work is loosely based on themes surrounding the lost kingdom of Lyonesse and the Torrey Canyon environmental disaster of 1967 - both (supposedly) located off the Cornish southwestern coast - and explores ideas of loss, decay, nationalism, horror and vengeance.
Loor - WATCH
Lisa Busby's Fingers in the Gloss is an album of new compositions, bringing together song with improvisations on playback media (turntable, cassette) and other sound making devices. It explores an experimental territory where melody meets noise and collage, and song fragments float in larger structures. For Saisonscape: Decay, Lisa will be debuting the album live and hosting the workshop 'DE-SKILL AND SCAVENGE: NEW RECIPES FOR SONGS' based on the techniques developed in the album. This practical workshop will focus on alternative, non-instrument based approaches to composition and songwriting, exploring strategies of repetition, decay, collage and improvisation. Tickets for workshop on Sat 14 Nov at Arnolfini, Bristol here and Sat 28 Nov at Cafe Oto, London here
Hollow Blown Egg taken from Fingers in the Gloss - WATCH
AA IS VERY EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE SUPPORT APPEARANCES FROM:
Howlround - Howlround is an ongoing exploration of the possibilities of magnetic tape as a creative medium for electronic music. Their live performances and compositions are created entirely by manipulating natural acoustic sounds on vintage reel-to-reel tape machines, with additional reverb or electronic effects strictly forbidden.
Howlround will support Saisonscape: DECAY with William Basinski tour, 15 - 17 September.
Torridon Gate (extract from vinyl LP) - LISTEN
Kepla - Kepla is the musical works of Liverpool based producer Jon Davies. Peeling away the pristine creations of industrial, modernist composition and hi-tech noise, Kepla gazes onto a world of materials floating, drifting and colliding into each other, attempting to look beyond the surface.
Kepla will support Saisonscape: DECAY with William Basinski tour, 15 - 17 Sept.
ὄρχησις - LISTEN
Hoofus - Hoofus uses drifting oscillators, cryptic rhythm and tactile interaction between performer and machines to create music of wayward eerie wonder. Drawing on rustic, alienation and the reclamation of the manmade by nature, Hoofus explores the uncanny beauty of the intangible and occult seeping through into our post-industrial world.
Hoofus will support Saisonscape: DECAY with Sarah Angliss + Kemper Norton tour, 14 Nov Arnolfini + 28 Nov Cafe Oto.
We Faded With The Mists - LISTEN
Dates/Tickets
Saisonscape: Decay with William Basinski
Tues 15 Sept - Café Oto, London - £16 Tickets
Weds 16 Sept - Islington Mill, Salford - Tickets
Thurs 17 Sept - Kazimier, Liverpool - Tickets
Saisonscape: Decay with Sarah Angliss and Kemper Norton
Sat 14 Nov - Arnolfini - £10/£8.50 concs Tickets
Sat 28 Nov - Café Oto - £8 Tickets
Art Assembly are very thankful to Arts Council England and our venue partners for supporting the Sasionscape series.