Music / improvised music
Here comes the future …
So here we go – a four-day festival (Thur 5 – Sun 8) around Bristol that includes resonating rocks in an underground vault (Kelly Jayne Jones), a string quartet playing in the dark (Ligeti Quartet), deconstructed dance music (DJ Birthmark), an immersive voice installation in The Galleries (Verity Standen), oddly unsettling ‘litecore’ pop songs (Still House Plants), improvised electro-acoustic percussion collusions (Beatrice Dillon and Kuljit Bhamra) … and a fine selection of other sonic strangeness.
Yes, the Bristol New Music festival is back after the inevitable hiatus and yet again spreads a smorgasbord of unexpected morsels from the fringes of contemporary musical culture to surprise and delight us. Started in 2014 the biennial festival is a collaboration between Bristol Beacon, the Arnolfini, St George’s, Spike Island and Bristol University Music Department all of whom contribute ideas. The programme is then pulled together by local promoters Qu Junktions – widely recognised as national leaders in ferreting out the wonderful and the weird from around the world. Bristol Beacon’s artistic director Todd Wills, who has been involved from the outset, explains their intentions: “We always knew there was an audience in Bristol – it’s that kind of a city – but a lot of contemporary music gigs got a bit lost in the city’s wider musical scene. As promoters we felt a festival would be a good opportunity for more people to experience experimental and contemporary music, and over the years we’ve seen the audiences grow so it’s apparently worked.”
But isn’t all music ‘new’ when it first appears? Even Todd can’t exactly put his finger on what ‘new music’ is. “I’m not sure how you should define it: I see it as experimental, sometimes challenging music. There’s a lot of improvisation. As promoters it’s a chance to do something a bit radical and unexpected in our spaces, which is really refreshing.” But does it have to be scary, then? “Oh no, not necessarily. People like Tara Clerkin, Sarah Devachi, Beatrice Dillon – who’s appearing with percussion ace Kuljit Bamhra – they’re highly original but still very accessible, musically.”
is needed now More than ever
Mind you – it can also be pretty in your face: the festival features a roaring night at Strange Brew on Saturday with ultra-vocalist extraordinaire Dali de Saint Paul’s band Harrga promising ‘radical uncompromised voice and noise’ alongside sound assembler Helena Celle. So what is Todd looking forward to seeing himself? “Well I’m a massive fan of Still House Plants so their night at St George’s with Mica Levi should be wonderful but I’m especially pleased we have (solo clarinet loop artist) Angel Bat Dawid (pictured at top). We booked her to come over two years ago but then it couldn’t happen so it’s really satisfying that we’ll finally get to see her in Bristol.”
Bristol New Music is happening at various venues around Bristol from Thursday 5 to Sunday 8.
Our top newsletters emailed directly to you
