Shoppinghour Magazine– a magazine bringing art, philosophy, poetry and critical theory together in exposing the nuances of contemporary life and culture – proudly presents an evening of visually and sonically disruptive gramophone sounds, unexpected repetitive and percussive discordances, harmonies and locked grooves, smart and both musically and lyrically complex pop tunes, hooks and beats with passion and depth, apocalyptic yet hopeful psychedelic guitars, bisexual vocals and orchestral percussion that destroy sound.
Copies of Shoppinghour issue 07, the Rights issue, will be available.
Hejira are a metamorphic rock band arising out of London. The group of multi-instrumentalists cut their category destroying sound with psychedelic guitars, bisexual vocals and orchestral percussion, creating an atmosphere which is at once apocalyptic and hopeful.
'My name is Florian and I and I enjoy writing very short stories. Sometimes these are set to music. I am writing a collection of songs every season for the rest of my life.'
These short stories - at times surreal, mystical, dreamlike in theme, at others touching and personal have been put to music in a sequence of seasonally produced recordings that began with 'Spring 2011.' Each season is being recorded in studios around the world: Spring in London, Summer in LA and Autumn to follow in Stockholm.
"The idea was born from my frustration at not being able to write a coherent album and the fact that my mood and relationship with music changes with the seasons."
It's hard to place Lunaire's music. 'Amsterdam' sits someplace between the brutally moreish dark piano of John Cale's 'Fear' and 'Paris 1919' era records; 'Forever Young' has the rhyming rhythmic wordplay of 90s Tribe Called Quest (“on his backpack there’s a Black Flag badge and he asks me where I’m from”) set to a suitably hip-hop beat. 'Capture/Release' is a simple, evocative ballad to past love, rich in tender, fragile emotion. Throughout, his sharp, wide-eyed observational lyrics are delivered with his trademark rasping voice, well travelled from Tibet to London via Provencal France.
Lunaire's instrument is the piano. He plays it with a clever, often discordant left hand, which pulls and tugs at the seemingly simple melodies that are embellished with at times euphoric key-changes, soft haunting backing vocals and doleful strings from Gillian Maguire and drums from Peter Havard (both from Florian's band Disappearers.)
Growing weary of performing solo, Lunaire set up new band Disappearers (NME's 50 bands of 2011). In the next twist he brought his solo work back in order to focus his different writing styles, using Disappearers as his backing band, this time under the name Florian Lunaire. His live shows are captivating, starting with piano then building up further with added instruments as players take to the stage.
Lunaire's Spring/Summer collection displays his talent for pop - smart and musically and lyrically complex - with tunes, hooks, beats and most importantly, passion and depth. He constantly engages with his audience through this unique release schedule of seasonally timed records and blog entries that include free music and writings.
Naomi Kashiwagi studied MA Fine Art at Manchester School of Art and MA Art Gallery and Museum Studies at the University of Manchester. She also studied at the Academy of Art in Venice and Tokyo University of Art and Music. Group exhibitions include Progress Reports: art in an era of diversity, Iniva, London. The Intertwining Line: Drawing as Subversive Art, Cornerhouse, Manchester; Wind-up, Barbican, London; Unplugged, Herald St Gallery, London; Paperworks: Paper Art in the 21st Century, Bury Art Gallery and Meeting Point, Axel Lapp Project, Berlin. Kashiwagi’s work is published in the book, Drawing Now: Between the Lines of Contemporary Art.
‘Wind-Up’ involves performing with a wind-up gramophone turntable and re-appropriated 78rpm records. The performance is drawing: drawing out sound. It is a tactile process and my background in drawing and painting are imbued within the way that I approach this performance. I place strips of electrical vinyl tape onto the shellac records to create an additional tactile layer that is visually and sonically disruptive. This creates unexpected repetitive and percussive discordances, harmonies and locked grooves.
