Wednesday 10 February 2016, 8pm
Glasgow-based songwriter Alasdair Roberts returns to OTO following his stand-out set as part of Trembling Bells residency last June and an acclaimed self-titled album (his eighth) on Drag City. Alasdair Roberts is possibly the only musician to have starred on the covers of bothWire and fRoots magazines, reflecting the uniquely innovative nature of his work which couples interpretations of traditional material with new compositions drawing on the folkloric stock of Scotland, Britain and the wider world.
“It is a rare talent – one who is now bordering on auteur territory - who can relate folk music with such scholarly authenticity, and penetrate on such an emotional level at the same time.” – The Quietus
“Roberts retains an abiding love for dense lyricism, internal rhyme schemes, and melodies that wind their way along like wild vines gradually unspooling over stony ruins.” – Pitchfork
Alasdair Roberts is a Glasgow-based musician – primarily a singer and guitarist – born in Germany and raised in central Scotland. Acclaimed by Folk Radio UK as 'one of our most talented, important and relevant songwriters and song-adapters', he has released several critically acclaimed albums of his music via Drag City Records since the late nineties.
Alasdair is known for his own idiosyncratic and evocative compositions and songs, as well as for his fresh interpretations of traditional songs and narrative ballads from Scotland and beyond. He enjoys a wide range of collaborations with fellow musicians, as well as with artists from other disciplines. He plays in the groups Furrow Collective and Current 93 and has toured extensively both in the UK and worldwide, both solo and with various musical companions.
Alasdair’s most recent album, Grief in the Kitchen and Mirth in the Hall, is a collection of traditional songs recorded entirely solo. April 2025 will see the release of Remembered in Exile: Songs and Ballads from Nova Scotia, a new album recorded in collaboration with Lewis-born Gaelic singer Màiri Morrison and Canadian producer/arranger Pete Johnston.
Elaine Mitchener is a British Afro-Caribbean vocalist, movement artist and composer working between contemporary / experimental new music, free improvisation and visual art. She is currently a Wigmore Hall Associate Artist; was a DAAD Artist-in-Berlin Fellow (2022) and was an exhibiting artist in the British Art Show 9 (2021-22). In February 2022 Mitchener was awarded an MBE for Services to Music. Elaine is founder of the collective electroacoustic unit The Rolling Calf (with Jason Yarde and Neil Charles). Her regular collaborators include: composers George E Lewis, Jennifer Walshe, and Tansy Davies; visual artists Sonia Boyce, Christian Marclay and The Otolith Group; chamber ensembles Apartment House, London Sinfonietta, Ensemble MAM, Ensemble Klang, and Klangforum Wien; choreographer Dam van Huynh’s company; and experimental musicians such as Moor Mother, Loré Lixenberg, Saul Williams, Pat Thomas and David Toop. While developing her own projects, Elaine continues to work as a collaborative and interpretive singer.
Ross Whyte is a Glasgow-based composer, originally from Aberdeen. He completed a PhD at the University of Aberdeen where his field of research was concerned with impermanence in audio-visual intermedia and headphone-specific composition. His compositional output in recent years has often included collaborations with artists of disciplines different from his own, including dance, theatre, sculpture and web design. He has a particular passion for working alongside dancers and dance choreographers and has collaborated with various key practitioners.
He is one of the founding members of Orphaned Limbs Collective, an interdisciplinary group of artists that push the boundaries between disciplines, morphing dance, theatre, music, spoken word, and video projection.
Ross has received several awards including the Chris Cadwur James Award for Composition, two Derek Ogston Postgraduate Scholarships, a grant from the Aberdeen Endowments Trust for a Subsequent Degree (PhD) and the Made in Aberdeen Prize 2015 which enabled funding for his project, The Witching Hour. His debut album, Kaidan, was released on 31 October 2015 by Comprende Records and has been described as “a thing of great beauty and intrigue which gives you something new on each listen” (http://scotswhayhae.com)
