ABOUT\\REVIEWS\\FEATURED ARTISTS

ABOUT
SoundCirque is an occasional music night in Brighton (UK) curated, funded and run by musician/composer Elizabeth Walling, who usually performs at the events in her various incarnations.

SoundCirque aims to support both upcoming (unsigned) and well established artists who “bravely cross genres and create a unique musical experience; "basically anything goes as long as it does something 'out of the ordinary' and fits with the ethos of the night".

Keep updated on the website, Facebook or Myspace - all details are here.

 

FEATURED ARTISTS 2007 - 2009

VALGEIR SIGURÐSSON
(Bedroom Community)

"Valgeir Sigurdsson was at the recording controls for eight years as his Icelandic countrywoman Björk conducted her most crucial experiments. He has also brought other ground-breaking artists – Bonnie "Prince" Billy, CocoRosie, Maps – to his home studio in the Reykjavik suburbs, where they live till their work is done. Now, Sigurdsson has stepped out of the shadows – first with his own label, Bedroom Community, and ith his solo debut, Ekvilibrium, which distills his warm, liquid, organic-electronic sound."
THE INDEPENDENT, UK

Valgeir Sigurdsson has a healthy list of outstanding credentials having worked as a producer for; Múm, Nico Muhly, Camille, Bonnie "Prince" Billy, CocoRosie, and Maps (to name the very few). He is perhaps best known for his numerous collaborations with fellow Icelander, Björk which have spanned nearly a decade. His live show combines sparse, delicate acoustic melodies with a beautiful mastery of digital electronics.
| www.bedroomcommunity.net | www.myspace.com/valgeirs |
 


ELIZABETH
(now known as Gazelle Twin)

(unsigned)

"Tonight’s host, Elizabeth Walling, is equally excellent. Her voice is winter picture postcard purity personified – it seems to frost over, bewitch and envelop her songs which range from, rather aptly, Vespertine style choral glitch to Kate Bush goes Balkan folk within the tidy confines of a short set. It’s effortlessly good and the perfectly prefigures the glacial grace Valgeir serves up. "
FACT MAGAZINE, January 2009

"Every now and again, a genius arrives, seemingly out of nowhere. Elizabeth Walling aka Gazelle Twin is one of those rarities, taking her first giant steps on the road to everywhere."
GARRY MULHOLLAND
, Oct 2009

Elizabeth Walling is the founder and director of SoundCirque. She is a musician/composer from Brighton, with a list of musical influences ranging from Hildegard of Bingen (an 8th Century Abbess), to Bessie Smith, to Boards of Canada. Her solo project, Gazelle Twin is undergoing development, and an album release and tour is planned for 2010. Read Biography here.

| www.gazelletwin.com | www.myspace.com/gazelletwin |


GROW CLAWS
(formerly Le Band Extraordinaire)

(unsigned)

"...the Fab Five have reached their creative high point just as the world is ready for Buster Keaton-influenced jerk-pop genius. "
Garry Mulholland

Grow Claws (formerly Le Band Extraordiniare) dare to experiment.  Songwriter Jez Berns (who is also the bass- playing front man), has a talent for fusing the best bits of a very eclectic list of musical genres and creating highly energetic, gloriously catchy pop songs. It's basically 'Art' or 'Avant' Pop; i.e the sort of thing that the lesser music journalists of this world wrongly dismiss and/or misunderstand (Wild Beasts are another such band). But despite their complex musical background, Grow Claws' songs are always solidly grounded and extremely well written - expect to have 'Dr Morocco' and 'Rubber Ball' stuck in your head for at least a week after hearing them.

Having played some highly acclaimed shows alongside
bands like The Noisettes (Mercury), Wild Beasts (Domino), The Fiery Furnaces (Thrill Jockey) and Amanda Palmer (Roadrunner Records), there is a lot more to come from Grow Claws. Watch out for them.

| www.growclaws.com | www.myspace.com/growclaws |


DARK HORSES
(unsigned)

Dark Horses is the aptly dark and delicious project of Brighton based artist Lisa Lindley-Jones. Her music creates a dark, trippy, almost 60's psychedelic revival; with crackling analogue electronics, droning heavily delayed guitars, harmonica and an intoxicating live presence to boot. It's sinister, fatal, mysterious and beautiful all at the same time.

http://www.myspace.com/darkhorsesofficial

 


A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA
(unsigned)

"Best Brighton Group"

THE WIRE

"The most scandalous thing about this Brighton outfit is that they aren't better known."

BEARDED Magazine, Jan 2009


A Scandal in Bohemia, who disbanded in 2009, were a 6-piece experimental band (Elizabeth Walling as vocalist/flautist) with a diverse range of musical influences from post-rock to electronica, post-punk avant-garde classical. Their songs combined a near orchestra of electronic and acoustic instruments. Often likened to film soundtracks, their songs often develop and transform like a symphony, from a single improvised, delicate musical gesture progressing into an immense, pulsating rock-out. Many fans of the group have expressed their regret at the band's split, but each of the members has since gone to deveolop new projects: Gazelle Twin (Elizabeth Walling), Soccer 96 (Dan Leavers & Maxwell Hallet), Your Laughter (James Barton), The Little Big Band (Ed Briggs, James Barton, Thom Punton. You can still hear their music on myspace, and can still purchase their first and last self-released EP, CHINA.

|
www.myspace.com/ascandalinbohemia
|


 

GRASSCUT
(Ninja Tune)


“A celebration of England at its naffest and most beautiful. I like it a lot”
Steve Lamacq (BBC 6 Music)

grasscut composer Andrew Phillips is an award-winning film and television composer with over 100 screen credits (to be viewed at unitedagents.co.uk/film/andrew-phillips/). His soundtrack album, Home, is out now on Burning Shed and he has recently contributed tracks to Lo Recordings. He is joined on this journey by erstwhile partner in grasscut: classically trained double bassist, keyboards player and noisenik Marcus O'Dair.

grasscut describe their debut album: Meadowhall, At Last!, as "a transcendental journey from the England of the South Downs of Sussex to the Nintendo Cathedral of Meadowhall Shopping Centre.".
| www.myspace.com/grasscutmusic |
 


 
LEAFCUTTER JOHN
(
Staubgold, Planet Mu, Schematic, Tigerbeat6, XL)
Leafcutter John is the recording name of John Burton, a UK-based musician who also plays with Mercury nominated Jazz group, Polar Bear.
| www.leafcutterjohn.com  | www.myspace.com/leafcutterjohn |

 


CAPILLARY ACTION
(Discorporate Records)


"Imagine Prokofiev re-arranging Red Krayola...Capillary Action offered the spectacle of virtuosity, with technical mastery of their instruments and a sophisticated understanding of melody and harmony."
The Wire

Capillary Action songs never sit still and do what you expect; they bend, stretch, fall apart and come back together, only to fall apart again. Since 2004, composer/guitarist Jonathan Pfeffer has drawn upon a wide range of influences to create dense, catchy, and deeply personal compositions that mesmerize as much as they challenge. The New York-based band -- now an all-acoustic quintet -- tours relentlessly, having played hundreds of shows across the U.S., Canada, and Europe alongside the reunited Shudder To Think, Dirty Projectors, Joe Lally (Fugazi), Dos (Mike Watt and Kira Roessler), Daughters, Ruins, and 31Knots, among others. Capillary Action have also been featured in Pitchfork Media, Exclaim, Guitar World, Modern Drummer, the Wire, the Onion, the Stranger, and Time Out New York. | www.capillaryaction.net | www.myspace.com/capillaryaction |


BIRDENGINE
(Drift records)
Based in Brighton , birdengine’s live shows vary greatly, from purely electronic sets using toy keyboards with dying batteries and a tape recorder to sets with just nylon guitar, vocals and a cello. His body of work ranges from soft and slow waltzes to thick electronic dirges all retaining that distinctive weird, sad and isolated birdengine sound.  

| www.myspace.com/birdengine |


CAROLINE WEEKS (Manimal Vinyl)
Caroline Weeks is otherwise known as Ginger Lee (musician in Mercury Nominated band Bat For Lashes). Her solo act is inspired by the poetry of Edna St Vincent Millay to which Caroline writes her delicate and magical music, usually self accompanied on acoustic guitar. 
| www.myspace.com/carolineweeks |
 


KOPEK
(shels music)
After a debut performance supporting Mechanical Bride, Kopek have already played with the likes of The Blow, David Thomas Broughton, Casiotone for the Painfully Alone and Vic Chesnutt with the A Silver Mt. Zion and Guy Picciotto of Fugazi and Rites of Spring. Kopek have also headlined shows both in and outside of Brighton, Kopek's home town. Bass-player Jacob and guitarist Marcus also play in Sons of Noel and Adrian and drummer Danny plays as Laish and with the Laish Quartet.
| www.myspace.com/kopekmusic |
 


BUNTY
(beatabet)

Bunty is a Brighton based musician and visual artist. Bunty is a member of beatabet music and arts collective. Bunty uses one mouth, one mic, a Boss loop station and a dd5 delay. Bunty performs solo vocal looping sets which are a mixture of improvised and composed music. She is currently collaborating with VJ Adam Hender to play games with visuals.
| www.myspace.com/buntylooping |
 



JUNKBOY
(Enraptured Records)
Junkboy are an, experimental post-rock and electronica band that originated from Southend-on-Sea, Essex in the late nineties. The core members of the band include brothers Mik and Rich Hanscomb. Through Moshi Moshi records, Junkboy released an EP entitled Robot and Proud in 2000. The band went about recording their first album for Moshi Moshi Records entitled The Dynamics of Modern Communication released in the summer of 2002.Junkboy finished their second album in late 2004.
| www.myspace.com/junkboymusic |
 



ROBERT STILLMAN'S HORSES (millpond records)
HORSES is wordless music and sound by Robert Stillman. The spirit of 'Horses' music is somewhere between the fairground, the rural parlour, and the stars; while the shrewd listener may be able to pick out hints of Stillman's influences, (among whom he counts John Fahey, Kurt Weill, Scott Joplin, and Maurice Ravel), his music exists on its own terms, a detailed musical territory unto itself. Attendees of Stillman's live shows have come to expect the unexpected; a 'Horses' performance can mean a one-man-band, tape-based sound collage, live accompaniment of silent archive footage, or a full ensemble event.
| www.myspace.com/robertstillmanshorses |
 


REVIEWS


"Anyone who knows Brighton well enough will understand that it is a vibrant and colourful little seaside gem. It boasts a vivacious nightlife; an eclectic live music scene, where you can see small indie treasures in the likes of The Freebutt or The Prince Albert, or catch bigger deals at The Dome, The Corn Exchange or my personal favourite, Concorde 2.

Small sweaty clubs like New Hero and Jam have provided an alternative to the larger 'hair extension and fake tan' filled venues such as HoneyClub or Tru... or even Digital. And with a bottomless pic 'n' mix bag of bars and pubs, one might say you're pretty well catered for here. Almost.

For where do you go when you want to experience something a little more out of the ordinary? You have a love of unique and experimental music, the arts, cinema, the avant-garde... but you want to share that interest with like-minded, interesting and intriguing people. Small festivals may offer some occasional relief, but my, wouldn't it be divine to experience it on your doorstep?

Fortunately SoundCirque is a night offering just that. Curated, funded and run by Elizabeth Walling aka ELIZABETH (who you may have caught a review of in Danny and I's LOOP Festival coverage), these nights offer a far cry from Brighton's mainstream, where you may encounter performances, live music and DJ sets which "bravely cross genres and create a unique musical experience". The collective have worked with many artists and experimental musicians including Capillary Action (Discorporate Records), Valgeir Sigurdsson (Bedroom Community), Leafcutter John (Staubgold, Planet Mu, Schematic, Tigerbeat6, XL) as well as Brighton's best talent such as Dark Horses, Le Band Extraordinaire and ELIZABETH herself, I was delighted to be invited to Wrapped In Plastic, a night to pay homage to the mother of all directors twisted and tantalizing - David Lynch. Did you get the Laura Palmer reference there?

The Studio Bar of Komedia had been transformed into a dark, seedy and alluring Lynchian dreamscape - The Black Lodge. Tonight's event had sold out within the first 40 minutes of the doors opening. As I entered, I noticed a small table of cherry pies and later spot the baby from Eraserhead. The theme to Twin Peaks drifts from the soundsystem as masked faces, rabbits and femme fatales grace the bar and stage areas. The lighting was low, the black and white stage met with thick, luscious red velvet curtains, was just about visible through wafts of red and violet smoke.

At the bar, Lynch themed cocktails sold at £5 a pop. I chose 'In Dreams', an intoxicating blend of which I can't quite remember now. Though I do remember its toxic green hue... Anyway, I arrived just in time for ELIZABETH's performance. Emerging in silence, and wearing delightfully eerie night-owl attire, handmade signs inform us what is going on. For anyone who has seen Mulholland Dr., you will of course have been forever haunted by the scene in Club Silencio. "NO HAY BANDA!" That scene is an emotional powerhouse. Elizabeth, armed only with her own voice, executed the most chilling, raw cover of 'Llorando' that I could ever have imagined. It was to no surprise the crowd fell silent, with the exception of some drunk idiots in Phantom Of The Opera masks at the back, clearly misinformed of what tonight was to entail.

After a much deserved applause and cheer, DJ sets drew us back into reality with Rock'N'Roll, Rockabilly, Blues and Experimental Jazz. I went and treated myself to another cocktail. This time, 'It Was Red'.

After conversing with and photographing some wonderful people, Dark Horses later take the stage and perform a haunting rendition of In Heaven, Everything Is Fine aka Lady In The Radiator song from Eraserhead, among more Lynchian delights. Le Band Extraordinaire's performance gets toes tapping and bodies swaying to deep heavy basslines and crooning sax. More aural delights are provided by tonight's DJs, and the dancefloor slowly began to fill with characters from Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks, Eraserhead, Lost Highway and more. Upon my departure I very much enjoyed the sight of rabbits, vampish laydees, dapper gentlemen and bejeweled faces getting pretty funky and having a generally dazzling time. "


|  The 405, August 2009  | (Review of Wrapped In Plastic)

 


"Paddling defiantly away from the mainstream and giving patrons something to think about, as well as a dazzling good time".

|  Brighton Fusion, July 2009  |
(Preview of Wrapped In Plastic)

 


As the proprietor of Reykjavik’s Greenhouse studios, Valgeir Sigurðsson has had a decidedly hip hand in the facilitation of sound recording by clients such as Bjork, Will Oldham and CocoRosie. Last year he made his tentative steps out of the doubtless icy wilderness with the release of his solo album, Ekvílibríum (Icelandic for 'Equilibrium'). An album of magic-realist, electronically refracted folk; it’s quite lovely - although one can’t help but muse upon whether the collected beard scratchers huddled within the cozy environs of West Hill Hall are here for Valgeir’s music or his glamorous brand name.

Proceedings begin with low key delights, Grasscut. Plying the kind of steam powered imagined futurism that Daedelus does, Grasscut mesh phonographic samples with toy keyboards and Fender Jaguar riffola. It look likes Fuck Buttons on paper. I’m pleased to say it sounds nothing like that. Tonight’s host, Elizabeth Walling, is equally excellent. Her voice is winter picture postcard purity personified – it seems to frost over, bewitch and envelop her songs which range from, rather aptly, Vespertine style choral glitch to Kate Bush goes Balkan folk within the tidy confines of a short set. It’s effortlessly good and the perfectly prefigures the glacial grace Valgeir serves up.

Greeted with rapturous applause, it’s soon clear that the audience are genuine fans of Valgeir’s, nodding with sage like intent to every intricately crafted crystalline of sound design Valgeir and his band treat us to. The ease with which Valgeir assimilates and manipulates both digital and acoustic instrumentation is a testament to his in-demand status (and it’s exemplified tenfold in tonight’s context) but there’s more at work here than pleasing aesthetics. These are beautiful songs and would be even if they were shorn of their tasteful studio wizardry. At times it sounds akin to a third rate Sigur Rós, but for the most part Valgeir’s much better than that: wrapping us, cocoon like, in the glistening, amniotic slipstream of his aural candy floss as he darts between laptop, percussion and piano ably assisted by his band. Heck, it might have been freezing outside but tonight was all about musical warmth.

|  FACT MAGAZINE, January 2009 |
 

 


Alongside regular nights like Safehouse, Spirit of Gravity and Perfect Sound Forever, SoundCirque is always an exciting, excellently curated evening of avant garde talent. The previous event saw A Scandal In Bohemia and Leafcutter John astound a sold out Komedia audience and the first SoundCirque of 2009 saw West Hill Hall similarly jam- packed.

Elizabeth Walling’s brand new set fused sparse, cold electronic beats with live cello, harmonised flutes and her breathtaking voice to create an impressively full yet restrained sound with nods to Bjork and Beth Gibbons.

Icelandic producer Valgeir Sigurðsson was joined by a cast of multi-instrumentalists from Reykjavík’s vibrant experimental music scene to craft intricate and alien soundscapes.This is no Sigur Rós or Múm clone, Sigurðsson’s music is daring and original. He took the role of live producer with the rich textures of bassoons, trombones and cellos giving him plenty of source material to craft into delicately powerful harmonic collages.

On top of the victorious performances there was the charm of the superb venue, an appreciative, attentive audience and a BYOB policy – perfect all round. It’s a shame the quarterly SoundCirque isn’t a more regular fixture.
THE ARGUS, January 2009  |

 


 

 


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