YOUR favourite Orcadian psychogeographer and acclaimed forger of musical atmospheres, Erland Cooper, is to give a special performance at London’s Barbican on Saturday, October 10th.
The event, designed for live broadcast, is part of the autumn Live from the Barbican series: a dozen events which will also feature Nubya Garcia, Richard Dawson, The Divine Comedy and Emmy the Great, among others. Erland will kick the series off; his show will feature material from his Orkney triptych live for the first time.
For the Barbican performance, Erland Cooper will collaborate with a small ensemble, an additional quartet of soloists and new arrangements from the London Contemporary Orchestra.
The show will feature an introduction with Mary Anne Hobbs and incorporate film, spoken word contributions from Scottish artist Kathryn Joseph, real-time live performance and pre-recorded projected material.
Erland says: “An audience should always feel transported somewhere else for a moment, whether real or imagined.
“I’d like the Barbican hall itself to feel like a ferry, crossing the North Sea to Orkney. To be able to broadcast simultaneously to a remote community north as well as a large city south, feels like a bird’s migration.”
His Orkney trilogy explores the islands’ birdlife, on 2018’s Solan Goose; the sea, on 2019’s Sule Skerry; and the land and the islands’ people on the concluding, latest album, Hether Blether.
Fancy a deep investigation of Erland’s aesthetic? He’s recorded a piece featuring more 300 field recordings sent in to Chris Hawkins’ BBC 6Music programme, entitled A Nightingale Sings Outside Our Window – click through for a listen. He appears alongside the voice of Florence Nightingale, violinist Galya Bisengalieva, Robert Ames on viola and Paul Weller.
Erland has also confirmed his tour dates for next year, which are as follows. Click through on the venue hypertext link for further details and tickets:
October 10th, 2020, London, Barbican, and then;
May 6th, 2021, Belfast, Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival;
May 26th and 27th, Edinburgh, Summerhall;
May 28th, Birmingham, St. Paul’s Church;
May 29th, Manchester, Hallé St Peter’s;
June 1st, Bristol, St George’s;
June 2nd, Canterbury, Gulbenkian Theatre;
June 3rd, Brighton, St. George’s Church, and
September 26th, Stroud, Hidden Notes.
Tickets are on sale now from: https://www.erlandcooper.com/
Hether Blether is now available on digital, CD and vinyl here; you can also follow Erland on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
