Saturday 28th May | 7pm | £10 ADV £12 OTD
Some of you may have caught Ruth Goller's unbeatable bass playing skills when she played here earlier this year as part of Vula Viel. That is went we learnt of her exceptional project Skylla!
'SKYLLA' is the solo project of composer and bassist Ruth Goller - featuring herself on bass guitar and vocals, as well as outstanding UK vocalists Lauren Kinsella and Alice Grant. All three are based in London, with Ruth herself originating from the mountains of the Dolomites. Their music takes inspirations all the way from Eastern European folk song, to Free Jazz, to 'Joyce' - with bewitching compositions, featuring bass guitar harmonics sparkling underneath other-worldly three-part song. 'SKYLLA' takes after the mythical three-headed sea monster of the same name, in that their music is both mysterious and sometimes dangerous - in it's own intimate and unique way.
"It's kinda like a cross between Derek Bailey and Arthur Russell, and it's just really really beautiful" Zakia Sewell, BBC 6 Music
"Your 'Hit Reset Record', we're gonna inhale, we're gonna exhale, and
we're gonna step into the sunshine" Jamz Supernova, BBC 6 Music
“pretty deep and amazing” Alex Attias, Visions
“Very close, intimate sound.. so close and so tactile that you can feel
the music stroking you on the shoulder” Corey Mwamba, BBC Radio 3
Ruth Goller’s ‘Skylla’ shines a long-awaited light on one of the most important musicians to have driven and revolutionised the UK jazz and improv scenes over the last 16 years. The bassist, vocalist, composer, environmentalist and now solo artist, draws inspiration from deep within to create a stunningly original and beautiful piece of work.
Hailed by the Guardian for her “thunderous bass-guitar hooks’, Goller helped lay the foundation for the UK’s jazz renaissance whilst playing in many of its most influential and popular bands, from her years on stage with Acoustic Ladyland and Melt Yourself Down, to more recently Let Spin and Vula Viel, whilst performing and recording with the likes of Shabaka Hutchings, Mercury-Award nominee Kit Downes, Sam Amidon, Bojan Z, Marc Ribot, Rokia Traoré, and Paul McCartney.
On ‘Skylla’, Goller in some ways returns to the pure untaught instincts that drove her as a teen punk musician. Working with different tunings for each song, Goller composes instinctively based on what she hears in every moment. As Goller puts it, “at that point muscle memory doesn’t work anymore so I have to trust my ear completely”.
Coming from the border region between Italy and Austria, Goller grew up fascinated by the differences and similarities in the intentions behind speech. This ear for words has influenced her approach to vocals; improvising them through streams of consciousness around her bass playing, focusing on the sound and feeling, and almost inventing a new language through abstraction. As Goller puts it, “Music is a language and I always want to learn as much as I can about it”.
Initially Goller recorded all vocals alone, before inviting accomplished and celebrated vocalists Lauren Kinsella and Alice Grant to lend their additional voices to particular pieces; with the knowledge they would rise to the challenge of singing words free of language to irregular tunings. The final contribution came from Kit Downes, who produced and mixed the album.
Support from Bunty
Multi discipline artist, avant - instrumentalist, improviser and vocal looping pioneer.