Wednesday 15th of May 2024, 7.30 PM

Marlene Ribeiro + Sons of Viljems with the sitar sounds of Shama Rahman

Born and raised in Portugal, Marlene Ribeiro came to the U.K. as a teenager, initially to Reading where she enrolled in a local BTEC course to study music. She learned to play bass and eventually moved to Manchester where she was to become a core member of the avant-garde rock band Gnod. Ribeiro spent many years at Islington Mill, a converted cotton mill and an enclave of Salford’s finest avant-garde, cross-disciplinary artists. An experimenter and a collaborator, she first began releasing her own music under the moniker Negra Branca on labels such as Tesla Tapes and Zamzam and has worked with the likes of Faust, Charles Hayward and Thurston Moore. In 2020 Marlene released a collaborative album with percussionist Valentina Magaletti, ‘Due Matte’ (‘Two Crazy Women’), followed by her first solo album under her own name in 2023. The critically acclaimed ‘Toquei no Sol’ (‘I touched the sun’ in Portuguese) was released via Rocket Recordings, home of Gnod, Goat, Teeth Of The Sea and Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs. ‘Toquei no Sol’ is an album with a very distinctive sense of place, paradoxically despite having been woven together from recordings made in Ireland, Wales, Portugal, Madeira and Salford. Its genesis came via a visit to Marlene’s maternal grandmother Emilia, whose influence as well as the sounds of her kitchen in Portugal can be heard on the album’s opening track ‘Quatra Palavras’.

“Ribeiro’s music comes from within and inhabits the echoing spaces of the mind, infiltrating a sophisticated and all-encompassing soundscape that cleanses. She takes the sounds around us which we filter out almost all the time, and repurposes them to present our reality back to ourselves as truth” – The Quietus

“‘Toquei no Sol’ couldn’t be more aptly titled, because that is literally how it will make you feel throughout the whole experience. It is a six-track masterwork of depth, restraint, and carefully considered moments, guaranteed to leave you absolutely humbled in its wake” – The Sleeping Shaman

https://marleneribeiro.bandcamp.com

Sons of Viljems are an experimental duo based in London comprising Nejc Haberman, bass player of the Slovenian ethno-jazz ensemble Jazoo, and Andrea Giommi, composer, guitarist and bassist for psych-noise acts The Emerald Leaves, Edible Woman and Leg Leg. Their music is based on the stark contrast of their individual musical styles, resulting in fluid, groovy and ambient tunes that are melodic, minimalistic and evocative. Immersing you in ambient cinematic soundscapes and captivating melodic storytelling with hints of Nu Jazz and drone and dub, their music celebrates the unsaid – the mystery of cultural encounters, where silence is as important as sound and the climax is reached through the physical interaction of two individualities. The best way to ‘visualise’ their sound is to imagine two bodies walking and disappearing on a densely foggy night, just like Sons of Viljems disappear inside their own music when performing it. They debuted in 2018 with the self-released ‘Touch Me Not’, an 8-minute nocturnal suite accompanied by a short film by director Bojan Brbora. Subsequently collaborating with award-winning Slovenian musician and composer Filip Sijanec, together they released two singles on the EEEE label in 2020, ‘Unthinking’ and ‘Jelena’, followed by 2021’s self-titled 3-track EP released via SaS Recordings. With a measured pace in a world of relentless acceleration, they had released six carefully crafted songs over five years. In contrast to bulk editing and standardisation, Sons of Viljems meticulously chisel every song to its last detail. After years of concerts, collaborations, and sporadic releases, the band has now curated 42 minutes of music for their debut full-length album. Released on March 18th 2024, ‘Lithospheric Melodies’ is a fusion of minimalistic bass-guitar sessions and collaborative efforts with external musicians including Laura Loriga, Agathe Max and Filip Sijanec, each contributing their unique touch to the compositions. Tonight they incorporate a new collaborator into their sonic world, British singer, songwriter and sitarist Shama Rahman.

“Sons of Viljems deliver a captivating journey into a subtly twisted sonic portrait” – Captured Howls

https://sonsofviljems.bandcamp.com

Price: £10 Buy tickets
Wednesday 6th of November 2024, 7.30 PM

Cenk Esen + Aykan Esen

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Thursday 7th of November 2024, 7.30 PM

Jeremy Warmsley

Price: £11 Buy tickets
Friday 8th of November 2024, 9pm

Peace Militia

Price: FREE Buy tickets

See full programme