View from the tower, 25 November

‘A View From The Tower’ is an residency running at The Vortex (Gillett Sq, Dalston)  exploring the work of great British composers, which has shaped the British scene past and present.

The idea for this program of music came from a writing session of my own. I was working on compiling material for the next ‘Indigo Kid’ record. The material was coming from new compositions and reinventions of older ideas. In this exploration i was drawn into looking at the overall architecture of the pieces together, and that overview governing changes within the individual tunes. I am greatly inspired by peoples music that takes you to their world, into their narrative. I am drawn to the thing that makes it intrinsically theirs. So I started listening, though somewhat selfishly, to self made playlists or compilations of some of the musicians i felt really had that element in their compositions and recordings. I was getting so much pleasure listening with this new intent that the idea came to me for the residency. As a discovery and rediscovery of some of the great British composers.

Tunes featured come from Iain Ballamy, Gwilym Simcock, Phil Robson, Huw Warren, Julian Arguelles, Trish Clowes. With a growing repertoire of music, there will be future arrangements from Kit Downes, Gareth Lockrane, Dave Manington and Keith Tippett...and more.

The team at Babel Label and Vortex have been incredibly supportive and helpful in bringing it into fruition, and many thanks towards them.

Vortex 3.30 p.m. £7/£5