Andrew Greaves: plays “a listener’s response to urban walking”
Perry Frank: dreamy synths & guitar soundscapes
Nylon Prawn: vocal soul FXed to the max with cyclical electronic riffs
Andrew Greaves is a Brighton based musician/artist and an active member of both the Spirit of Gravity electronic music and Safehouse improvisation collectives.
Andrew’s pieces combine melodic analogue synth improvisations within a layered mesh of minimalist repetition and sound art textures.
His latest release “a listeners response to urban walking” is inspired by a short visit to the Bauhaus town of Dessau, Germany in the spring of 2023; exploring options for combining the principles of design, architecture and colour within a music and sound project. “a listeners response to urban walking” was born out of a long day, walking around the town and its suburbs; visiting Bauhaus sites, artist’s, houses, workshops, public buildings and iconic housing estates. While walking, Andrew became interested in how, environments morph into each other; shopping quarters become residential, drift into light industrial areas, parklands and finally suburbs. Andrew was struck by how with a shift in environment comes a change of colour and sound types; each influencing his mood.
Each of the pieces on “a listeners response to urban walking” plot a journey on foot, including the extended “A Round Trip”, an aural trip around the whole town. Two of the pieces feature the guitar textures of Safehouse regular Pete Dixon. A highlight of the album is the duo version of Courtége, a piece written by and featuring the great saxophone innovator Ron Caines, of East of Eden fame. Andrew draws inspiration from many sources, including minimalism, German Kosmische, early synth pioneers, psychedelia, experimental jazz and a variety of non-western musics.
Andrew returns to Spirit of Gravity after performing there with Ron Caines & I’m Dr. Buoyant in 2023.
His work also includes live and recorded collaborations, with the sound artist Dan Powell, including their imminent release “Inside Journeys”.
In an altogether more raucous vein, Andrew has an analogue electronic duo “Screaming Alice” with synthesist Howard Spencer.
Andrew has also performed as a member of Broken Star, Himmel, Axz, Some Some Unicorn and Spirit of Gravity Quartet.
Andrew’s albums can be heard on the Spirit of Gravity Bandcamp label:
spiritofgravity.bandcamp.com
Perry Frank: a one man band project of Ambient, Post-Rock and Acoustic Music.
The unique sound of Perry Frank is based on guitar and synth loop soundscapes that create imaginary and dreamy textures on which arpeggios and melodies move with a timeless and spaceless feeling.
BIO: Perry Frank is an Ambient, Post-Rock, Acoustic and Psychedelic Music Project started in 2005, as a one man band, by the sardinian musician Francesco Perra. He released six albums MUSIC TO DISAPPEAR (Idealmusik 2012), THE NEPTUNE SESSIONS (Clubland Records 2013), SOUNDSCAPE BOX 1 (Tranquillo Records 2014), REVERIE (Dynamo Tapes 2020), SELVASCAPES (Lauge, Valley View Records 2021) and NUIT ENSEMBLE (Valley View Records 2022) During his career Perry collaborated with several artists like Chords of Orion, From Overseas, Antoine Michaud, PCM, Crows Labyrinth, Matteo Cantaluppi, Andrea Carri, Lauge, We Dream Of Eden, Spacecraft, Astropilot and Applefish. In October 2014 Perry Frank started a project called AMBIENT GUITAR SESSIONS. The sessions are filmed and recorded live in different outdoor and indoor scenic places.
PCM (the band he founded with Matteo Cantaluppi and Matteo Milea) released three albums ATTRAVERSO (2019), MACRO (2021) and DREAMLAND (2023) published by n5MD US based label. In January 2021, Perry started to collaborate with Valley View Records and released one album, several singles and EPs: LANDFORMS, JANAS, NEBULA, EARTHSHINE and MOONRISE with Spacecraft, MORNING VIEW, SIBERIA with Astropilot and DREAMSCAPES with Brannan Lane.
From July 2023 Perry started to collaborate with Ambient Soundscapes label and released 3 EPs: OUTER SPACE with Unusual Cosmic Process (July 2023), NEBEL (October 2023) and WAKE UP, WE’RE DREAMING with Applefish (December 2023). And in 2024 he has already released two EPs VANISHING, with Crows Labyrinth, published by French label Mare Nostrum and SHORES OF SILENCE, with We Dream Of Eden, by VVR.
Nylon Prawn: A duo in which Nell Howe finds out what happens when soulful vocals are pushed through multi-FX, while Al Strachan supplies a bedrock of riffs and loops on synth and electronics, with the occasional cornet squeal. Also, tap dancing can occur.
nylonprawn.bandcamp.com/album/live-at-psychedelic-sundae
Chris [Symmetrical Forces] creates live visuals for each performance using his own lo-fi footage, dusty VHS tapes and obscure videos from the internet to create futuristic images from the past overlayed with out-of-reach memories and vague fragments of lost visions.
The Rossi Bar is a small grade II building, and they are restricted with how they can improve access for anyone with mobility issues. The live music venue is located in the basement, which can only be accessed by a short spiral staircase. More accessibility information and images of the venue are in this document:
spiritofgravity.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/The-Spirit-of-Gravity-at-The-Rossi-Bar-for-audience-members.pdf
If you can’t make it to the Rossi Bar, you can now live stream all of our gigs on our new Owncast platform at stream.gravitons.org/.
“The Spirit of Gravity: making experimental music a threat again – since 2001”
Thursday 6th June 2024 | 8pm – 10.30pm | £5 (cash only)
Downstairs @ The Rossi Bar
8 Queens Road, Brighton, BN1 3WA
