The goal of this show was to present various aspects of the Archipelago's musical diversity. In fact, the first two sets consisted of trios formed specifically for this event.
First up was the guitar trio of Dean Santomieri, Ben Swire, and Thermal, performing together for the first time. Their improvisation was a rich textural brew... you can here an MP3 of their rehearsal here.
Next came the trio of Dean Santomieri, Susan Worland, and Michael Bentley (eM), also performing together for the first time. The combination of guitar, violin, and laptop collage proved an interesting mix and suggests the potential of future collaborations.
After a short intermission Earwicker (Seofon, Chris Rolls, and Chris Cones; who previously worked under the name Content Provider) presented an amazing collection of layered and processed sounds. The audio landscape that these three create is hard to describe, but evokes impressions of late night radio frequencies being scanned by a time-traveling crystal set. Or something like that...
Chris de Giere closed the evening with a jewel-like set played from his laptop and controller. Chris' live compositions wove together beats and melodic fragments with abstract sound and moved fluidly from one idea to another.
The evening was a lot of fun and certainly succeeded in bringing a number of different (but oddly compatible) musical approaches together under the banner of the Archipelago.
IN THIS COLUMN: (top) Thermal smiles; (below) Dean plays.
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BELOW - photos from the four sets: (top, left to right) the trio of Dean Santomieri, Ben Swire, and Thermal; (middle top, left to right) the trio of Dean Santomieri, Susan Worland and Michael Bentley/eM; (middle bottom, left to right) Earwicker (Chris Cones, Seofon, and Chris Rolls); (bottom) Chris de Giere.
Listen to the Santomieri / Swire / Thermal guitar trio rehearsal here.
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