Wednesday 3 May 2023, 8pm
Laetitia Sadier and Marie Merlet - aka Iko Cherie – unite with Blanca Regina on improvisation electronics and objects and Pierre Bouvier Patron on visuals where they will explore aspects of their respective works with a view to expanding their sonic universe.
Sharon Gal, Lucie Stepankova and Greta Pistaceci will play a continuous and shapeshifting set, including various combinations and instrumentations and presenting changing dynamics and sounding(s)
Laetitia Sadier and Marie Merlet met in Bordeaux in the 2000s when they both worked on Laetitia's 'Monade' solo project. At that time, Marie was studying electro-acoustic composition and Laetitia had set up a studio in the Médoc region where Stereolab and other projects were recorded. They joined forces again in London, where they now live and continue collaborating.
Few musicians can claim to have made such a mark on the British music scene in the last thirty years. As a member of Stereolab, she’s released ten full albums, gaining along the way a large dedicated fanbase and acclaim that rightfully singles out Stereolab as "one of the most influential alternative bands of the '90s”. With influences as wide as Krautrock, bossa-nova and French pop, the band sculpted a truly original and distinctive sound, one that journalist Simon Reynolds describes as "always the same, always different".
Following the band's hiatus in 2009, Sadier went solo. Aesthetically, her solo work is a clear continuity of her time in Stereolab, whilst remaining unafraid of change. New single "Then, I Will Love You Again" draws together strings, horns and a typically driven motorik beat, to produce a beautiful building love song that is both familiar and exciting. Aside from her solo work, Laetitia Sadier has collaborated with the likes of Mouse On Mars, Atlas Sound, The High Llamas, Blur and Common. She remains one of the most innovative and influential musicians of our time, making this coming show one that's impossible to miss.
Marie Merlet was born and raised in Bordeaux, where she maintained a close, continuous relationship with music while she was a film and electro acoustic student, playing in various bands and Djing weekly on the local radio station Nova Sauvagine. When she met Laetitia Sadier, Marie was involved in multiple projects: a girl-group covering sixties bands, a Washington DC influenced punk combo, and a few experimental electronic ventures. But when the then singer of Stereolab asked her to join Monade and they started recording and touring together, there was no turning back. Marie traded Bordeaux for London, where she has since continued her artistic journey following her broad musical interests. Guitarist in psychedelic cumbia outfit Malphino, member of HahaSounds Collective and player with the likes of Yama Warashi and Gina Birch, Marie also has a monthly residency on Soho radio where she celebrates women in music.
Blanca Regina is an interdisciplinary artist, tutor, and independent curator who works with spontaneous composition systems creating multimedia landscapes using voice, objects, electronics, and visuals. She is also looking at book arts, immersive media, and design. She has produced three albums with Beresford, mixed and mastered by Dave Hunt in London, ‘What Blue’ (2020) Duets with Steve Beresford; ‘Duets with Blanca Regina, Spontaneous Music’ featuring duets with Leafcutter John, Jack Goldstein, John Butcher, Benedict Taylor, Matthias Kispert, Aneek Thapar, Steve Beresford, Sharon Gal, and Hyelim Kim; ‘Art of Improvisers’ (2017) a collection album with several artists concentrating in women improvisers. With longtime collaborator and artist Leafcutter John capturing their live performances in 2017 they created ‘Miga’ a limited edition Pendrive and digital release. Other collaborations include performances with Laetitia Sadier & Marie Merlet ( ISIDORA) Matthias Kispert, DFuse, Peter Cusack, Matt Black, Wade Matthews, Terry Day, Adriana Camacho, and David Toop.
Pierre Bouvier Patron is a visual artist based in London. He is currently working with different media, such as digital video and film, exploring the boundaries between them and creating moving image works, performances and installations. He has developed various practices and skills in experimental film, documentary films, music videos, etc.
He is involved in video screenings and video performances, solo or in collaboration. His work has been shown in France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Germany, etc.
Lucie Stepankova (aka Avsluta) dedicates her creative practice to object-oriented improvisation, live performance, interactive installation, curation and DJing.
Inquiry about our being in, experiencing and interacting with the world through the lens of deep ecology and new materialism are at the core of her performative and installation works. Lucie co-creates with objects and natural materials, field recordings, electronics and digital processing to embody speculative narratives via sound-making. The general aim is to encourage audiences to engage in listening as an active-creative practice, reconnect with and manifest emotions, and forge a sense of interspecies solidarity and environmental responsibility.
Lucie performed in the UK and Europe in venues and festivals including Hangar Pirelli Bicocca [IT], Lunchmeat Festival [CZ], Cafe OTO [UK], IKLECTIK [UK], Waking Life [PT], LOM Space [SK] and Construction Festival [UA] among others.
She runs Introspective Electronics, a platform exploring the vast frontiers of ambient-inspired music and featuring regular radio shows and podcast series. Together with the London-based DJ and producer Alicia, Lucie co-curates Terra Obscura, a quarterly event series inspired by the new generation of ambient-tinged UK bass. In collaboration with Christian Duka and IKLECTIK, she co-organises SONIC GARDEN, a series of experimental ambient and downtempo events at IKLECTIK's Old Paradise Yard.
Greta Pistaceci is a multidisciplinary artist, performer and improviser.
In her musical performances, be they solo or group improvisations, she is equally at home in unrestrained noise and excess as in sparse, contemplative and controlled sound. She has performed extensively both solo and with a variety of acts including recurring appearances with the A Band, Paradise Yard, Unknown Devices, and alongside members of Arco.
She has also created performance scores: most notably for Ingrid Plum’s project Taut, as well as performing Stillness, her own sound art composition for two or more theremins and thereminists (in enclosed spaces), at venues including Supernormal 2019. Her favourite performance was as a member of a specially convened ensemble playing Pauline Oliveros' "To Valerie Solanas and Marilyn Monroe in Recognition of Their Desperation" at the Her Noise: Feminisms and the Sonic event at Tate Modern in 2012.
Greta also has an ultra-lo-fi DIY alter-ego called Modersohn-Becker and has been in a long-running noise duo with Smike Anthony Bardwell called Earth Creature. She has been obsessed with the improvising group Alterations for over a decade, to the point her 2011 dissertation was mostly about them and has as a result (and with much pride) contributed liner notes to their 2016 CD box set.
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
