Immix Ensemble with Luke Abbott
Following their recent nomination for the 2017 GIT Award, Getintothis’ Amaan Khan saw Immix Ensemble venture into new territory with their collaboration with Luke Abbott.
On the night of the election results, this year’s GIT Award nominee Immix Ensemble began their new season at Liverpool’s Bluecoat with the help of Luke Abbott, with some fresh textures of electronic and contemporary classical genre, doing so with a piece composed by Immix‘s Daniel Thorne and Norwich’s electronic experimental composer Luke Abbott.
The piece, which was split into four movements, began with Abbott‘s deconstructed sounds from his module synthesiser giving the listener a sense of pulse before the assortment of two string players, brass and wind layered it with melodies – at least someone not entirely aloof of Schoenberg might call them ‘melodies’ – of loose tonality.
While the first movement could boast of its dynamics with its gradual building up to a bigger sound before relieving into the steadily pulsating melodies, the second movement was a simple showcase of textures. The third saw the two string players take up percussions and with the ever-present electronics of Abbott, the group weaved ambient textures before steadily fading the night with the last movement.
How classical music can find its place amidst Sonic Youth and Velvet Underground
The room full of Immix‘s dedicated following loyally appreciated the night and indeed, the piece, while sounding obviously an Immix venture it had a fresh individuality never exhibited by the ensemble before – perhaps courtesy of Luke Abbott, which made the music stand out and appreciable. While on one hand we toyed with the idea of how immediately an Immix Ensemble show will get elevated if creatively mixed with some visual element like in a Marconi Union show, we also can’t dismiss the feeling that the creative heads of the ensemble know what they are doing better than us.
When in the realms of experimental music, it’s hard to measure the goodness of a piece anyway given uniqueness is standard practice. So the only appropriate yardstick is comparison to other Immix Ensemble pieces which are always daringly unique from each other given almost always made in collaboration with a different artist, making Immix an intriguing act if nothing else.
Lynny
Props must be given to Lynny who whetted our appetite before the main act with his very interesting seamless work on Yuri Landman‘s DIY instrument called a homeswinger and then bidding us farewell with some sweet banjo work.
All in all, whether you are an ardent follower to this style of music or just trying to get into it, an Immix Ensemble show is a guaranteed good choice with its reliable interest quotient and economical pricing.
Pictures by Getintothis’ Brian Sayle.
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