Date: Saturday 30th April 2022
Time: 10.30pm
Venue: Room 103, National Concert Hall
Tickets €12

Roamer:
Lauren Kinsella, vocals
Matthew Halpin, saxophone
Ruth Golle, bass
Matthew Jacobson, drums

Shane Latimer, Guitar/Electronics

BigSpoon:
Chris Engel, saxophone/electronics
Darragh O’Kelly, keys
Shane O’Donovan, electronics
Matthew Jacobson, drums

This triple bill celebrates the launch of albums from three of Ireland’s most innovative improvising acts – poetry inspired compositions from Roamer; spontaneously generated electronics and guitar improvisation from Shane Latimer and a fully immersive musical experience from BigSpoon, a culmination of bandleader Chris Engel’s work in the fields of free improvised music, jazz and electronic music.

Roamer
Roamer brings together four of Ireland's most internationally active improvising musicians. Currently based in London, Cologne, Berlin and Dublin, all four musicians reunite regularly to compose and perform original music celebrating poetry and improvisation.

“If you were to pick a group that represent the best of the current generation, these four would almost certainly feature... a breath-of-fresh-air Irish supergroup" (The Irish Times)

Shane Latimer
Shane is an acclaimed musician, composer and curator of improvisational and experimental music from Dublin, Ireland. He plays six, seven and eight string guitars, synthesizers and improvises with various preparations and electronic processing.

As guitarist/composer with free jazz electronic quartet OKO (“a revelation” - The Sunday Times) or as curator with the Bottlenote Festival (“a no-holds-barred celebration of beautiful noise” - The Irish Times) Shane’s work is at the cutting edge of creative and technical exploration in modern music making.

His latest solo work exists in the space between the natural and the technological. Shane uses software to harvest sound from his extended range guitar to feed an assemblage of electronic hardware. The result is a captivating dialogue between man and machine.

BigSpoon
BigSpoon’s musical offering is a crystallization of leader Chris Engel’s musical journey,which brings all of his musical impulses and influences to bear in the company of some of Ireland's leading improvisers and electro-sonic explorers. They create a sound world designed to immerse both the artist and the audience in a shared immersive musical experience. With influences ranging from Jaga Jazzist to Weather Report, this is visceral and mesmerizing 21st century jazz with organic heart and electronic soul.

“Big Spoon's music was a far-reaching and digging deep "electro fanfare" in a bedding of strong percussion and haunting keyboards. Adopted Irishmen Christopher Engel from South Africa went for it full scale without halt and drives it through all doors in company of eager and muscular fellow musicians.” (All About Jazz)