björk >> radiohead >> beyoncé >>
sophie >> moor mother >> aphex twin

BJÖRK: Homogenic (2017)

BLOOD IN THE SHAPE OF A GIRL.

for extended string quintet [c.45’]

RADIOHEAD: Kid A (2018)

LETTERS ALWAYS GET BURNED.

for extended string quintet [c.60’]

LANDSCAPES, KNIVES & GLUE — Radiohead’s Kid A Recycled
studio album, released 04.06.21

“an extraordinarily inventive and imaginative reinterpretation, an aural tour de force”
Oliver Condy, Official Apple iTunes Review

>>more info
>>linktree (stream/watch/buy)

Premiered at PODIUM Festival Esslingen (Germany) on 3rd May 2018.

BEYONCÉ: Lemonade (2019)

A RIOT THROUGH YOUR BORDERS.

for extended string quintet and narrator [c.60’]

With Lemonade, Beyoncé embraces the concept album, and as well as producing the traditional audio album, released a stunning 65-minute visual version of the album in collaboration with poet Warsan Shire. Beyoncé documents her journey from finding out about her husband’s affair, through anger, emptiness, accountability, forgiveness, and ultimately redemption. In our acoustic string quintet version of the album, we follow this melding together of music and spoken word, and are joined onstage by a narrator throughout.

Premiered at PODIUM Festival Esslingen (Germany) on 4th May 2019.

SOPHIE: OIL OF EVERY PEARL’S UN-INSIDES (2022)

WORLDS TURN TO SMOKE.

for extended string quintet and optional dancers [c.45’]

in collaboration with Ballett am Rhein & Gil Harush
[the above video uses demo audio from early rehearsals and midi renderings,
and is not representative of the final sound]

SOPHIE died at the tragically-young age of 34 in January 2021. According to friends and family, SOPHIE died as SOPHIE lived — inquisitive, and in search of beauty. The artist was in Athens, and had climbed up onto a balcony to better glimpse a full moon, when the balcony collapsed and SOPHIE fell. SOPHIE had released only one album of original music, but it is an album of such immense beauty, power, and depth to contain an entire lifetime.

SOPHIE also happened to be transgender, and the album in question — OIL OF EVERY PEARL’S UN-INSIDES (a phonetic play on the phrase ‘I love every person’s insides’) — deals with many of the issues facing trans people today, both in terms of self-acceptance, and of the often hostile attitudes of society. Even the track titles alone tell a story: It’s Okay to Cry – Ponyboy – Faceshopping – Is It Cold In the Water? — Infatuation — Not Okay — Pretending — Immaterial — Whole New World/Pretend World.

Alongside Ballet am Rhein and choreographer Gil Harush, we have created a ballet entitled “don’t look at the jar” which continues to explore these themes of gender through contemporary dance, to our acoustic version of this incredible album.

We also perform OIL OF EVERY PEARL’S UN-INSIDES as a stand-alone concert work, as we do all our other album reimaginings.

Concert version premiered at Podiumfestivalen Haugesund (Norway) on 24th June 2022.
Ballet version premiered at Beethovenfest Bonn (Germany) by Wooden Elephant and Ballett am Rhein on 7th September 2022.

MOOR MOTHER: Analog Fluids of Sonic Black Holes (2022)

ARE YOU WORSHIPPING SOMETHING?

for symphony orchestra, extended string quintet, and voice [c.50’]

in collaboration with Moor Mother & Beethovenorchester Bonn

“incredible mixtures of sound and words… expressive depth…
an extremely ductile orchestral fabric.”
Giorgio Cerasoli, Il Giornale Della Musica

“Outstanding… power and authenticity… a musical superpower”
Bernhard Hartmann, General-Anzeiger

Premiered at Beethovenfest Bonn (Germany) by Wooden Elephant, Beethovenorchester Bonn and Moor Mother herself, 16th September 2022.
A studio recording is in the process of being made.

APHEX TWIN: drukQs (2024)

LET’S HAVE SOME APHEX ACID.

for extended string quintet and prepared piano [c.110’]

in collaboration with Mathias Halvorsen

We have teamed-up with prepared-piano-specialist Mathias Halvorsen to work on our version of Aphex Twin’s epic double album drukQs. With Mathias we explore the myriad of sounds that emerge when you chuck anything and everything you can find inside a grand piano. There is a large element of prepared piano in the original album already, so we recreate those outlandish noises live, as well as developing our own array of sounds to replace the deep layers of album electronics.

The running time of 110’ includes a 20’ interval.

drukQs will be premiered at PODIUM Festival Esslingen (Germany) in May 2024.