Monday 9 February 2015, 8pm
First show at OTO in over three years for mercurial singer-songwriter Simon Finn, performing with Joolie Wood (violin, Clarinet) & Ian Hothersall (drums) as well as a special guest appearance from David Toop. A lone wolf troubadour from the mid-’60s UK scene, he rubbed shoulders with the likes of Bert Jansch, before seamlessly re-appearing on the UK scene in 2003 after a gap of some decades, and has since gone from strength to strength. Joining him on the bill will be Grimm Grimm, the space folk solo project of London-based Koichi Yamanoha.
Simon Finn has been given another crack at the troubled profession of singer/songwriter, his story the stuff of legend: A lone wolf troubadour from the mid-’60s U.K. scene, he rubbed shoulders with the likes of Bert Jansch. The powerful Pass the Distance, released to critical acclaim, seemingly lost for- ever... Since, a new record has surfaced – capturing the past and the present, a seamless transition despite the quarter century Simon Finn has won over fans worldwide – including Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore and ex-Blur gui- tarist Graham Coxon – with his passion, his wit and his soul-shaking music.
Aside from his solo shows Simon also plays guitar in a band called Current 93, which were the cover story of the July Wire. In 2006 his original album, Pass the Distance, was made in 1969, with David Toop (author of The Rap Attack and Oceans of Sound) and Paul Burwell. It was produced by Vic Keary who ran Mushroom records at the time.
His 2007 release, Accidental Life, has also been recorded and mastered by Vic Keary. Playing on it are: Joolie Woods, David Toop, Karl Blake (Lemon Kittens) Keith Godman, with backing vocals from Danielle Dax and Rose McDowall (Strawberry Switchblade).
Grimm Grimm musical project by London-based composer, recording artist, and producer Koichi Yamanoha, originally from West Tokyo, Japan. His music blends experimental pop elements with futuristic lyricism, weaving music box-like timeless melodies with ethereal soundscapes and electric textures.
Throughout his releases, Yamanoha has explored different nuances within his style. He incorporates a contemporary sound while drawing inspiration from baroque folk and 18th-century English 'infinite canons' forms, where repetitive patterns create an endless, cyclical feel. The melodies, often lingering at the end of his songs, echo like nursery rhymes—prayer-like motifs that invite listeners into a meditative, trance state. He has collaborated with a diverse range of artists, producers and labels —including ATP Recordings, Café Oto, Josephine Foster, Laetitia Sadier, Marta Salogni, Kevin Shields, Klein, and Hideo Kojima—through which his work has become firmly rooted in the experimental and avant-garde music scenes, as well as in the worlds of film and video game soundtracks. — Helen Clifford
David Toop has been developing a practice that crosses boundaries of sound, listening, music and materials since 1970. This encompasses improvised music performance, writing, electronic sound, field recording, exhibition curating, sound art installations and opera. It includes eight acclaimed books, including Rap Attack (1984), Ocean of Sound (1995), Sinister Resonance (2010), Into the Maelstrom (2016), Flutter Echo (2019) and Inflamed Invisible: Writing On Art and Sound 1976-2018 (2019). Briefly a member of David Cunningham’s pop project The Flying Lizards in 1979, he has released fourteen solo albums, from New and Rediscovered Musical Instruments on Brian Eno’s Obscure label (1975) and Sound Body on David Sylvian’s Samadhisound label (2006) to Entities Inertias Faint Beings (2016) and Apparition Paintings (2021). His 1978 Amazonas recordings of Yanomami shamanism and ritual were released on Sub Rosa as Lost Shadows (2016). In recent years his collaborations include Rie Nakajima, Akio Suzuki, Tania Caroline Chen, John Butcher, Ken Ikeda, Elaine Mitchener, Henry Grimes, Sharon Gal, Camille Norment, Sidsel Endresen, Alasdair Roberts, Lucie Stepankova, Fred Frith, Thurston Moore, Ryuichi Sakamoto. Curator of sound art exhibitions including Sonic Boom at the Hayward Gallery (2000), his opera – Star-shaped Biscuit – was performed in 2012.
