Text by CLOT Magazine
Next Friday, 8th December, Unsound – one of the world’s most adventurous music festivals – comes to London’s Barbican with an evening of live performances exploring Dislocation. Dislocation was the theme of Unsound 2016, which gave light to successful commissions revolving around the concept of dislocation, which has been touring worldwide.
Mat Schulz, co-director of Unsound festival alongside Gosia Plysa- approached these “dislocated” commissions from social, political, geographical and cultural angles: Whether it’s artists ‘dislocated’ from their homes or music dislocated from the very fabric of reality.
Next week’s event will bring to the brutalist shores of the Barbican NIVHEK (Liz Harris/Grouper), performing with visual artist MFO. After its own death, they will present a work created after a residency in the isolated landscape of Murmansk, deep in the Russian Arctic. A melancholic, harsh and eerie portrait reminded us of early Tarkovsky movies. MFO told us he feels this is one of his most conservative projects (wait to see his visual show for Ben Frost’s new tour, and it may make more sense), but this is still an elegantly executed and soulful experimentation on what could be a more classic format documentary.
We will also have the opportunity to see The Caretaker (Leyland Kirby) in his return to a UK stage after six years. It will be a world premiere performance alongside Aphex Twin’s visual collaborator Weirdcore (we are still gutted to have missed their show at Field Day the last summer). Kirby will present his current project, which explores the effects of dementia, creating music searching through memory and time.
In Soft Power, London-based electronic musician Felicita will join up with traditional dancers from the Ślask Song and Dance Ensemble from Poland. Another show specially commissioned by Unsound is a melding of Folk dances, piano melodies, ambient noise and synthetic pop. After these three performances, a DJ set from the Lebanese-born and Berlin-based Rabih Beaini and Morphine label head-will bring closure to the night. Beaini sets are raw and intense, incorporating global sounds and traditions into Techno jazz and noise.
