Low Island to collaborate with Hamilton House artists at Bristol show

Electronic four-piece Low Island have been notching up some serious attention in the last year with their slick and forward thinking pop tracks. Now though, the Oxford band have announced that they’ll be shaking up the format of a typical live show and involving local artists from each city on their current tour.

The Bristol date presents an immersive bill of creatives who are primarily based around Hamilton House. These include illustrators Lara Hawthorne, Harriet Lee Merrion and Patrick Atkins. We caught up with vocalist Jamie Jay to find out more about this unique idea.

So how did this concept come about then?  

We tried a new kind of event in terms of a gigging band back in April called Low Island and friends. We were a bit sick of the usual shows where there’s a few bands, the audience watch it, have one or two beers and then head home. It’s all a bit sterile, it’s not very immersive and more importantly it’s a bit insular with a few bands playing who aren’t really collaborating or even talking to each other sometimes.

This inspired you to break out of that formula in a sense?

We wanted to try and create an event in which lots of people can come together and work together. So we said why don’t we put on some events where we can reach out to artists from lots of different disciplines and collaborate on pieces that can be performed on the night. Back in April at Electrowerkz in London we did an event where we had visual art on display, we made a soundtrack for a dance installation, we had bands, DJ’s, electronic acts. Then we thought great, we really want to take this to other cities in autumn.

So you must be pretty excited to get the ball rolling now?

We’re really excited to be doing it. We’re going to be working with some visual artists in Bristol. We’ve sent some of our tracks over to them and asked them to create some illustrations based on however they are inspired from those tracks. Then that work can be presented on the night. We wanted to really get stuck into each particular city and work with some local artists and showcase their work. We wanted to dig deep and get our hands dirty. It’s very satisfying finding these amazing talents and working with them.

How did you actually come across these Bristol artists then? 

It’s a complete variety really. The Bristol one’s were people who are friends of friends. We’ve always been following what they do and love their work. Then there’s been other things where it’s been people we don’t know at all and have found them online. For instance in Glasgow we found this incredible art student who was playing Cello loops over fragments of our songs. It’s been a mixture of people we know and people we’ve never met.

What can people expect at the Crofters Rights show next week? 

I think it’s going to vary. From simply having a traditional gallery format with information through to some animation projection visuals as well. We’re really excited to see it. With the Bristol artists we’ve let them run with it so we’re excited to see how it’s going to all pan out.

It can very much be a struggle in the arts world can’t it?

One of the reasons why we’re doing this is whether you’re doing music, acting or art, there’s a lot of things that have come about that have made it really challenging in terms of funding and other obstacles. So rather than being sharp elbowed and competitive in the arts, we said this is really difficult, there’s a big struggle element so why don’t we come together. One of the great things about the Bristol show is that all of the artists are working in Hamilton House which is famously under threat. We thought that was really important to link in because that’s a perfect example of the struggle it is to try and be creative today.

Low Island play Crofters Rights November 3.

7pm, £7.25.

Tickets are available through www.seetickets.com

Check out the bands new track to get you in the mood: