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Artist News Gigs & Festivals Releases
Actress and the London Contemporary Orchestra to release album
By Andy Malt | Published on Monday 9 April 2018
Electronic music maker Actress – aka Darren Cunningham – and the London Contemporary Orchestra are set to release an album together titled ‘Lageos’.
The record is based on their 2016 collaboration at the Barbican in London, commissioned by Boiler Room. Both the original performance and the album feature manipulated electronic and acoustic instruments. As well as creating new pieces, new versions of existing Actress tracks have been developed.
“In many ways the collaboration is about exploring an ambiguity of sound that sits between electronic and acoustic spaces; something that we’re aiming to push further as part of the live shows”, says the LCO’s Hugh Brunt of the collaboration.
“For much of the set we look to realise as close as possible the timbres and colours of Actress’s electronics through acoustic means – which he in turn responds to – something of a physicalisation of those synthesised or sampled sounds”, he adds. “That has involved utilising various accessories: plastic bags – for white noise or to emulate an EQ’d hi-hat; keys; Blu-Tack – to dampen the piano’s upper strings; milk frothers on harp strings, and so on”.
Actress and the LCO will return to the Barbican for a new live performance on 26 May, the day after the album is released. Watch the original 2016 performance in full here:
