Only a few tickets remain for Grouper’s gig in the Unitarian Church on March 27th.
GROUPER
Musician/artist Grouper aka Liz Harris unveils a haunting new performance comprised of tape loops, field recordings and submerged atmospherics presented in a set of naturally resonant and specially customised locations. Grouper’s shimmering compositions exist in their own world, out of time and out of space. She stands out for the emotional resonance and epic reach of her song-writing. A singular and much revered artist, her latest double album A I A, released in April, has been touted as one of the year’s best.
Since 2005 she has released a flow of LPs, CDRs and tapes into the world on labels like Type, Room40 and her own Yellow Electric imprint. Using the barest of instrumentation (voice, guitar and keyboard) and layer upon layer of reverb, feedback and distortion, she dreams up songs that explore metaphysical themes of the self and the universe, of love and loss, life and death. The Wire recently compared to the rural psychedelia/drone odysseys of Flying Saucer Attack, while the pure, haunting quality of her voice brings to mind Julee Cruise.
Grouper’s live shows are rare occurrences and are always in tune with the architecture and acoustics of a space. For this tour she performs a new collection of tape collages derived from a commission for New York’s Issue Project Room. Field recordings, Wurlitzer loops and vocal tracks from her archives are mixed, spliced and processed live from an array of dictaphones and tape players. This is an eerie, melancholic set, in which fragile melodies and submerged textures gradually transform the space before decaying into nothingness
RAISING HOLY SPARKS
David Colohan has operated under the name Agitated Radio Pilot since 1993. The development of a new approach based on field-recordings, shapenote singing, loops and synths, and coloured by an interest in Hasidic mysticism, prompted the winding up of that project and the adoption of a new identity: Raising Holy Sparks.
The debut release ‘Beyond the Unnamed Bay’ features a pair of side-long suites made up of songs and instrumentals. The well-crafted balladry of Here Begins Our Lasting Joy will be familiar to fans of ARP’s World Winding Down album, while the lengthy The Depths of Bailey Point follows on from the abstract and atmospheric works found on The Lunar Arcane and The Days and Hills Grown Old. However the synth-pop stylings of As Far As We Can Go presents Colohan’s songwriting in an unexpected new context.
The album draws together the strands of Colohan’s earlier music into a more cohesive whole and a richer sonic palette, aided by Vicky Langan (Wölflinge, United Bible Studies) and Declan Q Kelly, with guest appearances including Stefan Neville (Pumice), Richard Moult and Audrey Ryan.
Skinny Wolves Presents:
GROUPER “Voilet Replacement” Live
Raising Holy Sparks
Unitarian Church, Stephens Green, Dublin.
8pm, Tuesday 27th March 2012
A limited number of tickets are still available, priced €12 from http://www.tickets.ie/skinnywolves
