Dear all
I’m writing this from a packed week at SXSW London! So lovely to attend a music expo in my home city at last. I’ve seen so many friendly faces and witnessed some amazing showcases from Ayanna Witter-Johnson, Gabriel Prokofiev and more.
As we prepare to head off on the road with The End Times to Middlesbrough on Saturday, I have a surprise gift for you! A special live solo version of my original poem Ten Thousand Hours, filmed by Rob Irish at The Glasshouse International Centre for Music. You may remember I performed this with David Ryder Prangley back on my Summer Studios residency there in 2022. This version includes me speaking the words of the poem for the first time.
I wrote this poem about the experience of having my very first seizure, so it was far too emotional for me to actually say the words for a very long time. Not to mention my long standing fear of public speaking! As I’ve come to integrate spoken word and theatre into my practice, I had to get over this phobia pretty fast. This was my very first excursion into those waters! It feels empowering now to be able to speak the words myself. I hope you enjoy it. You can a pick up a copy of the track on Bandcamp.
There are also some epic synths which are taken from The End Times live show. I made them out of samples from the album, slowed down hundreds of times, so it’s actually my own voice in very very very slo mo!
All of these elements are played live with the wireless wrist bands. I had a few people ask me how I was staying in time with the backing track. The answer is, I’m not that good at miming. It’s so much easier playing it all live! Especially when you have twitchy hands.
If you enjoyed this teaser, you can still grab tickets for the Middlesbrough show on Sunday here and join us for our first ever blackboard workshop on Monday.
If you’re down South, we will be playing the National Opera Studio London on 22nd June, tickets available here.
Hope to see you somewhere soon on the road
Purrs
Liza
