Monday 23 June 2014
Door Times : 8pm
Tickets : £8 adv, £10 on the door
Natural Snow Buildings make make melodic, orchestrated, droning compositions with layers of guitars, chants, woodwinds, percussive bells, distortion and delay. This French duo are almost mythic in stature, their live shows proving an even more rare jewel than their records, which seem to briefly appear in limited numbers before instantly being devoured.
The Brittany-based duo of Mehdi Ameziane and Solange Gularte began creating music together after meeting at university in the late 90s, armed with little more than cello, guitar and voice. They began issuing tapes and CDRs in miniscule quantities, word slowly spreading through the exclamations of such devoted advocates as Digitalis and Time Lag. Despite their minimal means, Natural Snow Buildings' music is never less than all-consuming, be it in their ethereal and windswept epics or their moments of close-mic'd vocal-and-guitar tenderness.
Their releases always materialise on a grand scale, usually of two discs or more, always adorned by Mehdi and Solange's quasi-mystical artwork, like the tracks inside, each one seems like a fully realised dream. 2006's 'The Dance Of The Moon And The Sun' was perhaps a watershed, the duo finding their work hyperbolised online as a "monumental masterpiece", "the history of all things" and "perfection defined". Popol Vuh, Flying Saucer Attack, Dead C and Grouper comparisons abound and uniformly fail to do them justice. Soon began their relationship with Sheffield's Blackest Rainbow label and a series of releases that continue to sell out almost before the label takes delivery.
"Natural Snow Building spent the major part of their set weaving layers of distorted guitars into a tapestry of dissonant drones, Ameziane and Gularte apparently evolving in their own universe, but converging to a central point. Ameziane provided the bulk of the cloud of noise, Gularte knitting faux melodic features over the top, until the distortion dissipated unexpectedly to leave just a few guitar textures floating in mid air. A ghostly voice then rose from the debris of the previous twenty or so minutes, feminine in aspect, yet belonging to Ameziane, who over the last few minutes of the set blew a gentle breeze over a rather stunned audience." - The Milk Factory, review of NSB gig at St Giles in the Fields, 2009
BEN NASH
Ben Nash weaves a tapestry of sound that is as warm and welcoming as it is timeless in character. Vocal drones, singing bowls, motorik loops and epic guitars are all keen elements of his sound; capturing fleeting emotions within his electro-acoustic net. Nash's debut album 'The Seventh Goodbye' (on Aurora Borealis) was a collage of so many layers, patterns and textures, that it became as dazzling as the plummage of the finest peacock in paradise. Musical elements as diverse as folk, raga, Eastern percussion, drone, prog and noise coalesce on the record. Last year he released 'Oh Lordy Me (My Heart Is Wandering Again)' for Blackest Rainbow, a record which saw him drop his guitar and create an entire LP using an iPad with the Tenori-on app. Perhaps an unexpected turn, but then this year has been a pretty interesting one for Ben, returning to playing live after a long hiatus, surprising people by playing live in Sheffield and London for separate sets with Mehdi and Solange from Natural Snow Buildings as a trio. Recent album, 'The Mineral Victim' is available now also on Blackest Rainbow.
STEREOCILIA
Stereocilia is London based guitarist and sound artist, John Scott. John uses his guitar and live looping techniques to create dense, rich layers of sound. Over the past 10 years John has performed all over the UK and Europe with various projects. He has also presented work for live radio broadcasts, and soundtracks to short films. He has twice performed in Rhys Chatham's guitar Orchestras. In 2012 at the Biennial festival in Liverpool cathedral performing ‘A Crimson Grail’, and more recently in San Francisco performing ‘A Secret Rose’ – Both for 100 guitars. John's Debut album 'Mumurations' is out now on his Echoic Memory imprint.
stereociliamusic.com/About.html
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