EX-EASTER ISLAND HEAD (UK)

Ex-Easter Island Head (2009-) are a UK-based musical collective composing and performing music for solid-body electric guitar, percussion and other instruments. Primarily performing as a trio, the group incorporate multiple prepared electric guitars struck with percussion mallets to create works that explore group interplay, repetition and melodic invention through purposefully limited means. They have performed their original compositions solo, as a duo, trio, quartet and as a large ensemble across a wide variety of events from site specific installation works to live film scores. Their records Mallet Guitars One –Three, Large Electric Ensemble and Twenty-Two Strings have been released to significant critical acclaim from the likes of The Wire, Pitchfork, the Quietus and the New York Times. The group have received airplay on the BBC, ABC (Australia) and WQXR (New York) with their music favourably compared to the likes of Steve Reich, Brian Eno and Claude Debussy.

Performances have taken place in venues ranging from the tiny Scottish island of Iona to a 150-year old brewery in Berlin and include appearances at Stewart Lee’s ATP Supersonic and Le Guess Who? festivals. The group have also undertaken collaborations with up to thirty musicians in large scale performances ranging from 16-piece guitar ensembles to string and wind ensembles. In late 2013 the group were invited to write and perform new work at Tokyo Experimental Festival and undertook a tour of Japan. They have toured Europe and undertaken residencies in the UK and Northern Ireland. Collaborators include the BBC Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Arnold Dreyblatt, Rhys Chatham, Immix Ensemble, experimental instrument builder Yuri Landman, artist / choreographer Kei Miyata and kinetic sculptor Shun Ito.

ARVE Error: Mode: lazyload not available (ARVE Pro not active?), switching to normal mode