Sunday 25 August 2024, 7.30pm
Liturgy is the project of Haela Ravenna Hunt-Hendrix, whose yearning, energetic “transcendental black metal” exists in the space between metal, art music and sacred ritual. Its current lineup includes Mario Miron (guitar), Tia Vincent-Clark (bass) and Leo Didkovsky (drums). Celebrated for their fusion of sincere emotion, compositional complexity, stylistic daring and intense live energy, the band is simultaneously a medium and platform for drama and theology. It was founded in the context of Brooklyn DIY as a solo project by Hunt-Hendrix in 2005 while she was studying philosophy and classical composition at Columbia.
In 2009 Hunt-Hendrix stimulated fervent conversation in the music world with her text “Transcendental Black Metal”, and after expanding to a quartet they made waves globally with their 2011 sophomore album Aesthethica for fusing black metal with math rock and infusing the form with a counterintuitively loving, emotional energy. Their ambitious 2015 album The Ark Work was controversial for its incorporation of IDM and trap production into their musical language. In fall 2019 they solidified this sound world with their highly acclaimed fourth studio album H.A.Q.Q., which is tied to an ongoing philosophical YouTube lecture series. Their fifth studio album, an opera entitled Origin of the Alimonies, was released in November 2020, recorded with an eight-piece chamber ensemble and performed at Roadburn festival in 2021 as the live score to an eponymous film created by Hunt-Hendrix. After a solo sculpture exhibition in 2022, the album 93696 was released in 2023 followed by an extensive world tour.
Sharon Gal is an interdisciplinary artist, performer, vocalist and composer, specialising in free improvisation, experimental music and collaborative, participatory large group compositions. She works with voice, electronics, extended techniques, field recordings, found audio, video and collage; exploring presence, listening, embodiment, and the relationship between people, sound and space. Sharon performs solo and in collaborations with: David Toop, Steve Beresford, Phil Minton, Charles Hayward, John Butcher, Andie Brown, Yoni Silver, Sue Lynch, Anat Ben David and Lina Lapelyte.
Since 2007 she has directed a series of site specific, large group compositions, inviting musicians and non-musicians to take part. She curates music concerts, including the series Sound Matter, at Café OTO, and concerts at Iklectik arts lab. Her music is released by many labels, including five solo albums and various collaborations.
Past performances include The V&A, ICA, The Whitechapel Gallery, Tate Modern & Tate Britain, MACBA, and Colour Out Of Space, Borealis, Supernormal, Supersonic, TUSK, and Tectonics festivals. Her experimental work, Etudes by Sharon Gal, a collection of text & colour scores, presented as a deck of 78 cards, was supported by Sound and Music and published in 2021.
https://www.sharon-gal.com/
https://sharongal.bandcamp.com
