Diane Cluck returns to OTO for two intimate shows following her previous sold-out residency here in 2012. The New York-based singer-songwriter of intuitive folk music has been influential in the development of the Anti-folk scene and has collaborated with Jeffrey Lewis, and Hermane Dune. For these two shows, Diane will be accompanied on both nights by versatile, classically-trained cellist Isabel Castellvi.
Fellow folk musician Devendra Banhart championed her early, referring to her as “my favorite singer-songwriter in all of New York City”, and choosing one of her songs for his Golden Apples of the Sun compilation. Other supporters / collaborators include CocoRosie, who invited Cluck to open shows in the U.S. and Europe and released her Countless Times album through their personal label imprint.
“Diane Cluck is a virtuosic talent with an emotionality that feels at once ancient and alien. Her mastery of her voice as an ecstatic instrument is so compelling.” - Antony Hegarty (of Antony & The Johnsons)
In 2012 Diane launched Song-of-the-Week–a fan-funded, subscription-based project through her website in which she writes, records and delivers new songs to subscribers. The process helped her develop many of the songs that appear on Boneset, and continues to generate new material for her live shows and future albums.
“Diane Cluck seems like more of a force of nature than a mere singer/songwriter. She is the rare archetypal artist (without ironic quotes) though whom something pure and true flows.” - Brainwashed
Introduced to music in his childhood while living in the famous monastery Franco erected in a mountain valley west of Madrid (El Valle de los Caídos), Victor Herrero learned to sing Gregorian and Mozarabic chant under the guidance of Benedictine monks. Joining the abbey’s well-respected boys’ choir he performed in around Europe and was featured in the soundtrack and as an extra in the Belgian cult film ‘Farinelli’ (Gérard Corbiau, 1994) Around this time he began studying the classical guitar. As a teenager back in his hometown Toledo he formed a psych-rock outfit called ‘Cicely’, which grew into a popular Madrid-based band. The group lasted 8 years. Following this break-up Victor recorded and released an album of his solo piano compositions (“Connotaciones para Piano”) under his old stage name ‘Victor Cicely’, which was put out by the Spanish label SGAE in 2006. Since that time he has performed regularly with Josephine Foster and also released a solo collection of his instrumental songs written for and interpreted upon the Spanish guitar, the music embodies different styles which have all formed a part of his experience ”classical, folkloric and contemporary threads” all united under the strong influence of traditional musica Andaluz.
IÑIGO UGARTEBURU
Iñigo Ugarteburu is a Basque composer and artist. He uses a broad palette of guitar, horns and woodwind, ukulele, harmonium, euphonium and strings to craft filigree instrumentals of often heartbreaking and deeply memorable quality. He's performed at festivals such as Sónar and Ertz with cult avant folk groups Carcáscara and Café Teatro. Though living in London now, he retains close ties with his homeland, where he’s a member of the Basque music collective Arto Artian.
Iñigo will be presenting the songs from he's latest release “For The Unknown” out on Foehn Records (ES) and his own Talo Recordings (UK).
