Annalies Monsere + Geraldine Snell
December 12 @ 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm
Annelies Monseré (Belgium)
Experimental minimalist drone folk on Horn of Plenty records.
https://horn-of-plenty.bandcamp.com/album/i-sigh-i-resign
Experimental minimalist drone folk on Horn of Plenty records.
https://horn-of-plenty.bandcamp.com/album/i-sigh-i-resign
Geraldine Snell (Hebden Bridge)
Hypnotic dream pop conjured from looped vocals and keyboard by Hebden Bridge artist and musician.
http://geraldinesnell.com
Hypnotic dream pop conjured from looped vocals and keyboard by Hebden Bridge artist and musician.
http://geraldinesnell.com
at Puzzle Hall Inn, 21 Hollins Mill Lane, Sowerby Bridge, HX6 2RF 8pm – 10pm (live music)
FREE ENTRY with donations for bands gratefully accepted. Live music done in time for trains back to Leeds / Manc. Supported with funds from Arts Council England.
— Further Info —
As a member of Ghent’s experimental music scene, over the past two decades Annelies Monseré has slowly refined a singular approach to musicality, moving from the sparse, instrumental piano works that defined her early career, toward increasingly complex arrangements of instrumentation that offer a central place to her own voice, issued by noteworthy imprints such as BlueSanct, Morc Tapes, Stroom, three:four, and Horn of Plenty. Like her work within the widely celebrated ensemble, Luster, as well as Distels (her duo with Steve Marreyt) and Hydromedusae (her duo with Jessica Bailiff), Monseré’s solo efforts establish a strikingly beautiful and remarkably unique territory that elegantly balances between rigorous experimentalism, minimalism, drone, and folk.
Her new album, ‘I Sigh, I resign’, retains the intimacy of earlier work with its close-mic’d keyboards and vocals that capture every breath. Folk and early music are at the core of her sound but the palette of piano, organ, bass guitar, cello, synth and drum machine make it very much a document of the here and now.
The cover features Annelies’s sketches referencing female artists from the Dutch Golden Age who, highly revered at the time, now serve as mere footnotes to Rembrandt, Vermeer et al. The cover sets the tone for the music within which deals with power structures, toxic environments, and questioning (his)tories.
Standout tracks include the pounding rhythm and choir-like voices on ‘Salt’ as well as the tense folk/post-rock of ‘Simple Fractures’ (co-written with her Luster bandmates). The album’s most tender moment is a cover of Jean Ritchie’s Appalachian ballad ‘One I Love’ played and sung by Annelies and her ten year old son.
‘I Sigh, I Resign’ is an intimate piece of work that explores personal and general themes which, having played-out for centuries, are still depressingly relevant. Despite the suggestion of defeat in the title, ‘I Sigh, I Resign’ is an affirming and defiant manifesto for growth and liberation.
Live, she will be joined on stage by Tim Depraetere, who also performs solo as Goldscammer, on vocals, bass and guitar.
Daryl Worthington wrote about ‘I Sigh, I Resign’ (2024) in The Wire ‘Past and present, personal and historic, dreamlike and mundane merge into flickering yet coherent constellations. Monseré’s music creates spaces where everything haunts everything else. A place where the past doesn’t disappear but leaks into the present. That might sound disorientating, but her songs render it eerily gorgeous.’ And Boomkat wrote ‘Monseré has always made her own distinctive kind of folk music; as entwined with Codeine’s hushed slowcore as Nico’s icy expression. Here, she sounds completely unlocked – after two decades of cautious experimentation, she finally draws with more deliberate strokes – and the effect is mesmerising.’
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Geraldine Snell
A multifaceted artist, musician, author, filmmaker and facilitator hailing from the Wild West Yorkshire, Geraldine’s melodic, meditative, mellifluous music makes mesmerized audiences slow down and soften to the precious vulnerability and medicinal potential of creative expression.
Her sound is tender, ethereal, and hypnotic, channeling similar vibes to Grouper, Julee Cruise, Laurie Anderson, Portishead, Tirzah, Cocteau Twins, James Blake, Bat for Lashes, fka Twigs, Bjork, Lael Neale, Angel Olsen, You’ll Never Get To Heaven, & Beach House.
With recent highlights ranging from the release of second album Light & Love LIVE (produced on a creative retreat awarded by Britten Pears Arts Trust) and Cocoon: Eclosion EP with Debugger to performances at Spice of Life Soho, Katzpace London, and festivals across the UK, watch this space for new releases and shows leading up to her third album overlove, co-produced with Richard Knight, across 2024.