Eroteme returns from its summer holiday with an expansive, cacophonous new project from Andrew Woodhead: “Pendulums” for bell ringers, improvisers, electronics & live visuals plus support from our very own electro-acoustic cynic Sam Weaver!
“Pendulums” for bell ringers, improvisers and electronics is a fascinating exploration of extremes. On the one hand we have a group of improvisers, six musicians swerving nimbly between the free and the composed, noise and pitch, turning on sixpences. Then there are the bell ringers, pulling ropes attached to tons of immovable heavy metal that, once set in motion, gradually, will not stop until gravity slowly decrees it. You don’t start the bell ringing lightly. It’s the equivalent of a band of unicyclists with an ocean liner.
Andrew Woodhead is a musician, composer, producer and artist working across a variety of contexts taking in jazz, free improvisation, electronica, folk and new music, as well as creating installation and digital work. He has established himself as a key figure on the UK’s creative music scene, winning the 2014 Dankworth Prize for Jazz Composition and being named ‘One To Watch’ in Jazzwise magazine.
Projects he is involved with include electro-acoustic duo ELDA with Aaron Diaz, collaborative arts practice Ideas of Noise with Sarah Farmer, and Mark Sanders’ CollapseUncollapse.
As well as performing solo on both acoustic piano and live electronics, Andrew has also collaborated in improvised settings with Olie Brice, Hannah Marshall, Paul Dunmall, Kim Macari, Annie Mahtani, Chris Mapp, Ole Mofjell, Natalie Sandtorv, Percy Pursglove, Jacob Garchik and many more.
His debut solo album ‘Pocket Piano Improvisations’ was released in May 2016, followed by ‘Shiny/Things’ with ELDA ft. Kari Eskild Havenstrom. ELDA released three EPs in 2020; ‘Live at BEAST’ featuring vocalist/modular synth player Georgia Denham, ‘Hippocampinae’ featuring saxophonist/clarinettist Faye MacCalman, and ‘a different name for the same river’ featuring Chris Mapp and Sam Wooster.
His latest album ‘Pendulums: Music for Bellringers, Improvisers and Electronics’ was released in June 2021, followed by a UK tour with live bellringers in September 2022.
ELDA released further EPs ‘Metal Built’ with guitarist Anton Hunter, ‘Hello Spirit’ with synth/electronicist Meesha Fones and ‘Primary/Secondary/Tertiary’ with producer/ambient musician John Derek Bishop in 2022. These are collected together in the box set ‘Collaborations 2020-2022’ released in December 2022.
CHARLOTTE KEEFFE wears her love for all sorts of Music-making/freely improvising on her (brightly coloured shirt) sleeves. Whether performing regularly as a trumpet/flugelhorn soloist (Sound Brush), or leading a variety of different ensembles, including her RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW Quartet, she meticulously carves out spaces for the free movement of ideas and individual expressions.
She describes her instruments as Sound Brushes as her approach to playing them is inspired by (abstract) painters.
“Keeffe shows notable strength of character as she runs the sonic and emotional gamut..."
~ Kevin Le Gendre, JAZZWISE
Keeffe’s debut album ‘Right Here, Right Now’ is where you’ll find her exhibiting a passion for vibrant soundscapes, from solo sets to orchestral adventures (London Improvisers Orchestra) captured during live performances. Released in 2021, on Discus Music, she earned international critical acclaim carving out a niche on the imprint. She leads, composes and performs for/with a number of Discus Music projects and artists, including; Anthropology Band, Hi Res Heart, Paul Dunmall, Julie Tippetts, Matthew Bourne, Alex Ward and more.
Sam Andreae has been active across Europe over the last decade as a saxophonist, composer and organiser. Through improvisation and composition he explores a music of colliding sound gestures and aural detritus, built up from an intentionally fractured instrumental language and playful spontaneity. His compositions place a focus on gestural processes which in their unraveling reveal a trail of sound artefacts to be picked through.
“what Sam Andreae does is liminal music, he shows you the clicks, the noises, the breaths, the rattle and hum” – John Doran, Quietus, 2017 on BBC 3 Late Junction
Sam Weaver, who uses his studio as a laboratory for sonic investigation and production, re-routing instruments into abstraction and deliberately misusing his equipment. Sam’s work exists between acousmatic music, free improvisation and experimental electronics, seeking to explore dynamics of sonic harmony and chaos.