How do you play a musical instrument when your hands just won’t stop twitching? What if you stuck a circuit board on a plastic recorder? What on earth would it sound like?
Listen to ‘Revenge of the Dragoncat’ and find out now!
Composer-performer Liza Bec drags the pipe and drum duet into the electroacoustic realm with their new roborecorder single ‘Revenge of the Dragoncat’, out 6th January 2023. Pre order it here.
Liza’s soaring melodies begin as a single line before intertwining with complex synth patterns, all triggered live by the roborecorder itself over Adam Hayes’ driving beat. Improvised in one take with no edits, Liza’s virtuosic performance redefines the plastic recorder as a formidable and accessible electronic instrument.
Liza and their roborecorder are currently on display in the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry’s 2022 exhibition ‘Turn It Up: The Power of Music‘. They have recently featured in the BBC Radio 6 museum and New Scientist. Liza’s classical music career was derailed after being diagnosed with a rare type of epilepsy. They designed the roborecorder to enhance and expand their musical skills, using their epilepsy as an inspiration rather than a limitation.
Liza will celebrate the release with their band Spiral Dial by playing a live show at Servant Jazz Quarters, London on 10th January 2023. Tickets are available here.
‘Revenge of the Dragoncat’ is taken from Liza’s upcoming EP INNERVATE, based on their cyberpunk short story of the same name. INNERVATE will be released on Liza’s own label, BMV Records, on 10th February 2023.
Work on INNERVATE was funded by Help Musicians UK Fusion Fund. Conceptualised as an immersive audiovisual installation and short story, it features visuals by Dan Tombs (Gold Panda/Jon Hopkins) and Catalina Velasquez Gonzalez based on words and concepts taken from Liza’s story.
MORE ABOUT LIZA
Liza Bec is a composer and studio producer who creates imaginative and innovative music and multimedia experiences. Always curious about how the world works, they love to use ideas from science and medicine when writing their stories and incorporate this love of innovation and invention into their creative practice.
Introduced to music at an early age, Liza plays recorder, clarinets and saxophones and made their concerto debut with the band of the Royal Marines while still a pre-teen. Liza studied Geology (University of Oxford), has a Masters in classical Clarinet Performance (Trinity College of Music, London) and was awarded a Distinction and the Hambleton Clarinet Prize. Within a short time of starting a professional career as a musician, Liza was diagnosed with a rare form of music-triggered epilepsy. After working extensively with Live Music Now! and Music in Hospitals, Liza was inspired to study medicine at King’s College London, where they gained a place on the highly competitive Graduate Entry programme, qualifying as a doctor in 2011. Alongside medical studies, Liza re-learnt how to play, focusing on improvisation in order to bypass the glitches in their brain. They collaborated with electronic artist James Holden on ‘The Animal Spirits’ (2017), co-writing ‘Spinning Dance‘ and performing on subsequent European tour dates. EP/short story ‘Beyond the Blonde‘ was released on limited edition vinyl in 2018.
Now operating from Anarres Studio, their own production house based on the nexus of innovative ideas and studio projection, Liza is currently producing Spiral Dial, a monthly serial fiction podcast with original music released on the last Friday of every month and narrated by David Ryder Prangley (Rachel Stamp, Adam Ant). Liza was selected for Sage Summer Studios 2022. Other recent work includes projects with the Paraorchestra and assisting on the soundtrack for global game sensation Genshin Impact with peerless composer, producer and performer Kuljit Bhamra (Red Fort Studios).
Download the track, press photos and Liza’s tech rider below.
