Text by CLOT Magazine
Somerset House Studios in London is presenting this year’s free special digital edition of contemporary electronic and experimental music series ASSEMBLY from September 23 to 27. For the third iteration, ASSEMBLY will feature five nightly premieres of new sound works, plus a series of artist talks and workshops from critically acclaimed experimental artists, musicians and producers Lafawndah, Loraine James, Ben Vince, Zadie Xa and Kelman Duran showcasing material developed during a four-month artist residency at Somerset House Studios.
In Moon Poetics 4 Courageous Earth Critters and Dangerous Day Dreamers (September 23), visual artist and performer Zadie Xa tells the story of animal kinship as a survival strategy to save an ailing planet. Using sonic collage to map out sound across its three movements, Kelman Duran’s A Last … Cinema (September 24) embeds references to the politics and history of Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota.
Electronic producer Loraine James premieres a long-form audio piece on September 25. Inspired by Mark Fisher & Justin Barton’s expansive audio-essay On Vanishing Land, producer Lafawndah premieres a new sound piece, Antinomy, for ASSEMBLY on September 26. And last but not least, saxophonist and composer Ben Vince shares his new work, Falling into Time, on September 27.
Ahead of each presentation, each artist will unpack the processes and inspiration behind their new work in a programme of broadcasted in conversations. As people at Somerset House Studios tell these five original works, the artists explore new innovations within immersive listening; compositions housed within an interactive three-dimensional environment will invite audiences to listen, visualise and navigate sound in new ways.
