VÄLVĒ return to Bishops House with an expanded 4 piece line up on Wednesday 22nd November 2023 as they celebrate the release of their second album Tiny Pilots on Slowfoot Records: an avant-prog sonic exploration of imaginary worlds and literary influences. Support comes from recorder and whistle player Juliana Day, whose improvisations weave in the textures and found sounds of the natural world.
// VÄLVĒ //
What is VÄLVĒ? Folk lullabies re-imagined by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Found-sound collages interrupted by Welsh language orations and sudden outbursts of fuzz bass. Gleaming synthpop workouts that collapse into swirling dreamscapes of sax and harp. Tiny sounds opening out onto the epic. Hi-tech and no-tech, deployed with equal measures of discipline and abandon. Carefully sculpted disorder. Uncanny geometries of noise and melody. Dizzy and gleeful and drawn in notebooks. That is VÄLVĒ.
VÄLVĒ started out as the outlet for composer/performer Chlöe Herington’s compositional work using text and image as the starting point for scores. She collects sounds and diagrams, composing predominantly for bassoon, saxes, electronics and found sounds to explore synaesthetic memory and collective experience.
The band morphed – from what originated as a solo project, performing mainly in art galleries, it grew to include Elen Evans on harp. After moving from galleries back into music venues, they were been joined by Chlöe’s Chrome Hoof comrade, Emma Sullivan on bass, microkorg and vocals. Live, the music traverses the realms of noise and improv into songs, punctuated with found sounds and eases into spacey soundscapes.
To celebrate the release of their second LP, Tiny Pilots on Slowfoot Records coming out on Nov 17th 2023, they will be touring with an expanded band, with Chlöe and Emma joined by Craig Fortnam (NSRO, Arch Garrison) on Phillichorda and guitars and Frank Byng (Snorkle, This Is Not This Heat) on drums.
“These sounds aren’t designed to sit on top of memories or prop them up but rather they are precisely shaped to weave through the mind like blood through a capillary.” – The Quietus
“The performance is mesmeric and improvisational, ranging from Aphex Twin abstractions to childlike songs with arresting lyrics, in the vein of Brian Eno’s vocal works” – Prog
www.valve.cloud
www.chloeherington.com
www.valvemusic.bandcamp.com
www.facebook.com/valvemusic
www.instagram.com/chloeherington
// JULIANA DAY //
Juliana is a recorder player, whistle player and vocalist based in Sheffield, UK. She has performed for TV, theatre, opera and radio including for the BBC, Royal Shakespeare Company, Manchester Collective and Yorkshire Silent Film Festival.
She co-directs Emergence Collective, an improvised minimalist ensemble, featuring a revolving line-up of around 30 musicians. They have just released their second album which was featured in Loud & Quiet magazine and Quietus’ Music of the Month.
“enthralling gorgeous, mysterious and mesmerising” Cast The Dice
Juliana is part of the professional improvising ensemble for the Yorkshire Silent Film Festival, and has provided instrumental and backing vocals for numerous session recordings.
Her solo project combines ambient improvisation, folk, experimental techniques and live electronics- much of her work is inspired by nature, and focuses on using music as a form of collective communication, expression and connection. Her latest work, which will be released later this year is inspired by sea and desert landscapes and combines textures and sounds found within those environments, all created live.
“absolutely beautiful” – Corey Mwamba. BBC Radio 3
https://www.julianaday.co.uk/
https://julianaday.bandcamp.com/
http://www.facebook.com/julianadaymusic/
http://www.twitter.com/julianaday1/
http://www.instagram.com/julianaday/
Wednesday 22nd November 2023, 7:30pm at Bishops House (accessed through the top entrance to Meersbrook Park), Norton Lees Lane, Sheffield S8 9BE
BUY TICKETS: https://budsandspawn.nuwebgroup.com/events/55667
Tickets £12 advance (£6 concessions). All ages welcome – under 18s must be accompanied by an adult.
Accessibility: Bishops House is a historical building with uneven floors and 1 step into the front door and another into the parlour. There is a WC on the ground floor. Please contact Laura on info@budsandspawn.co.uk to discuss how we can make this performance accessible for you, free carer / personal assistant tickets are available on request.