News
Hidden Door @ Leith Theatre
This film is amazing. Leith theatre likewise.
Sink will be joined by The Reverse Engineer on the Pianocube during the day (entry free) – three piano harps bolted together and hooked up to computers and loudspeakers – performance at 3.30pm.
For tickets to our evening performance of Lotte Reineger’s gorgeous Prince Achmed papercut follow this link:
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2875872
Also throughout the festival listen out for an installation by The Reverse Engineer featuring Sink in a few of the 64 one minute long micro compositions randomly assigned to four speakers in a room. Here we are recording an improvised response to the main theatre space on Sunday last.
Click Clack
Thursday 23 March —- Henry’s Cellar Bar —- 7 – 10 pm
We’re delighted to be performing at Click Clack Club this March, this is a brilliant night dedicated to showcasing Edinburgh’s finest musical offerings which don’t fit snugly into any kind of box!
As such we’re going to be playing some brand new material, freshly distilled from the plastic aether of our collective chaos…
‘Ossicles’ review – The Wire
Sink
Ossicles
No label CD/DL/LP
The ossicles are the trio of small bones in the middle ear that carry sound further into the head. They are shown in exquisitely sculpted form (by Adrian Hornsby) on the cover of this debut release by the Edinburgh free folk trio. There’s no obvious congruence between hammer, anvil, stirrup and the unusual instrumentation of saxophones, accordion and violin but they stand in some way for the three musicians involved and for the vivid sense of physical intimacy that Ossicles gives, as if the music’s channelled straight into the inner ear.
That can be disconcerting as well as exhilarating. Here, it’s nicely balanced, grounded in a folk style, that hints at overdriven, pub and weed dance, as on the opening ‘Down The Stairs And Through The Hole”, but which then takes off into eldritch free form with “Jazzing”, “Th” and “The Knife”, the most impactful of the half dozen improvised tracks. There are a few direct recalls of Scottish traditional forms from violinist Tim Vincent-Smith, but Matt Wright’s saxophones have a delightfully sour – what the Scots call wersh – tonality, almost shawm-like, while Daniil Dumnov’s huffy accordion all squeezed chords and smears, invite comparison with some of the free music from Russia that still regularly appears (thanks be!) on Leo Feigin’s veteran Leo imprint.
There is just the right mixture of groove and abstraction on “The Meat” which like all the tracks is recorded is a very wide and palpable acoustic and with no electronic sweetening; just a touch of tongue drum on “Dissection Bar”. Photographs of the group find them playing down what looks like a Parisian street – or maybe just a cosmopolitan corner of Edinburgh – and that makes sense. It’s music that comes at you out of the environment, as with the traffic noise of “Truck” and arrives unbidden and strange, only to disappear and re-emerge somewhere else in the soundscape. Mysterious and beautiful.
Brian Morton
The Wire
Multi-piano mash-up
#Pianodrome with The Landing Festival 2016 present
Multi-piano mash-up
Sink will hook five pianos up to the electronic augmentation devices of the very excellent Mr. Dave House aka. The Reverse Engineer and invite a couple of killer collaborators to join us namely the leader of Lipsync for a Lullaby and much more besides – Atzi Muramatsu, and the genius pianist currently resident and winning prizes at Summerhall – Will Pickvance. The Landing Festival at Edinburgh’s Biscuit Factory is really just a front for the artisanal quadrophonic sound amplifier of Chapel Perilous and it’s creator Hector has given us the keys!
What is going to happen?
Pay a piffling £5 on the door and have change for a few beers while you find out.
8-11pm Wednesday 23 November
The Biscuit Factory, 4 – 6 Anderson Place, Edinburgh EH6 5NP
Share this post and your name will be put into a hat for the prize draw on the night to win the piano of your choice.
Magic Lantern & Alabaster dePlume
Strange Attractor is back! The incredible acoustic of Saint Stephens in Stockbridge will be brought alive with three musical acts of subtlety, skill and beauty. Edinburgh’s own acoustic improvisatory conjurers will be joined by The Magic Lantern and Alabaster dePlume for a night of auditory exploration and communication beyond words.
St Stephen’s Stockbridge
5 November
7:30 pm
Tickets:
£8 advance / £10 on the door
We’re on a spectral adventure, folded 3 ways, and we want to bring you our souls.
An artist dedicated to remedying the anxiety and fear present in everyone, his voice both lifts and calms the senses equally, as he applies jazz technique to a direct and open presentation of original songs.
Most recently joining Jamie Cullens choir at the Proms, the singer and composer Jamie Doe is a rising star of Londons diverse music scene, who never settles without a challenge, and lives to spread love, calm and sincerity.
Jamie has an immediately arresting voice that has been compared to Chet Baker and Jeff Buckley and a unique guitar style that takes elements of folk fingerpicking, Flamenco and West African music
“Very, very special” – Lauren Laverne, BBC 6 Music
“Intriguing, compelling and exceptional. A man to watch” – The Guardian
Alabaster DePlume (Gus Fairbairn), is a performer, writer and musician. What he makes is jazz/folk with theatrical performance in it, that reassures with behaviour and sound while it challenges with thoughts and words. With a tenor saxophone influenced by 70s-era Ethiopian music and humour akin to Ivor Cutler, Alabaster has toured internationally and locally presenting instrumentals, songs and theatrical scripts that evolve, adapt and interact with the musicians, the audience and the occasion, for all present to know and enjoy the effect of their own presence
Since 2011 he has produced three albums on Manchester label Debt Records, toured Europe as a solo performer, produced short films, and written/performed a play with circus-aerial in Dublin. He has also presented a series of combined-arts events celebrating his work, and the work of others.
His latest LP ‘Peach’ was produced by Paddy Steer, and accompanies short film ‘I Feel Good’ directed by Melodie Roulaud.
You can see the film ‘I Feel Good’ here
You can hear Alabaster’s latest album ‘Peach’ here:
“Cheerfully uneasy” – Max Reinhardt, BBC Radio 3
“The best artistic event I have ever experienced in my life” – Manchester Jazz Festival website
The Adventures Prince Achmed
With live score by Sink
Widely considered to be the first full-length animated feature in the history of cinema, The Adventures of Prince Achmed is a beautifully crafted piece of storytelling based loosely on the Arabian Nights. The film is an exciting tale of sword fights, genies and adventure told using a silhouette animation technique pioneered by director Lotte Reiniger.
Filmhouse Edinburgh have commissioned Sink to bring our live sounds to this very special animated feature as part of a Scotland-wide tour.
Reaching beyond our usual instrumentation of violin, accordion and saxophone we will create a score that is in part composed and in part conjured; improvising and experimenting as Lotte Reininger did with shape and colour 90 years ago.
Tour Dates:
Mon 29 August – Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow – 6:30 pm – Tickets
Fri 2 September – SEALL at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Skye – 8 pm – Tickets
Mon 5 September – Aros Centre, Portree, Skye – 7:30 pm – Tickets
Tue 6 September – An Lanntair, Stornoway, Lewis – 8 pm – Tickets
Thu 8 September – Eden Court, Inverness – 7:15 pm – Tickets
Fri 9 September – Belmont Filmhouse, Aberdeen – 7:30 pm – Tickets
Sat 10 September – Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee – 1 pm – Tickets
Sun 11 September – Filmhouse, Edinburgh – 4 pm – Tickets
Sat 1 October – Hippodrome, Bo’ness – 7:30 pm – Tickets
More info can be found HERE….
Part of CineScore Live, a touring season of live music and film events supported by Film Hub Scotland.
Coming up in 2016…
After a quiet January we’re getting revved up for an exciting year.
We’re planning more live shows, the release of a new EP, a Scottish tour with Kate Stables and a silent film project with Filmhouse, Edinburgh. Meanwhile, check out this video, recorded on December 9th last year at Sofar sounds!
Edinburgh album launch
At long last, the Edinburgh release of our debut album ‘Ossicles’ is upon us
Taking over the top floor of the recently opened Biscuit Factory in Leith, SiNK will be playing music developed from improvisations on our new album, along with old favourites and some brand new songs.
We’ve also invited our good friends Kate Young, Graeme Miller, Sven Werner and Isaac Jackson to support.
Friday 27th November | 7.30pm
The Biscuit Factory
4-6 Anderson Place
Leith
£5 on the door – CDs and vinyl sold at special launch price
Let us know you’re coming and invite friends on the Facebook event
More about the night
Combining virtuosic fiddle playing with electronics and haunting vocals, Kate Young takes traditional music and spins it into a universe entirely of her own making.
Graeme Miller (Cracks in the Concrete) and Sven Werner (Tales of Magical Realism) will create an experimental, ever-evolving, pulsing acoustic sound piece using a pyramid of piano harps, horsehair loops and beaters.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YtMUI9_LdA
Isaac Jackson sees sounds. Responsible for the syn-aesthetic sound painting appearing on our poster, Isaac will be presenting work from his ongoing collaboration with SiNK. Translating sounds from the Ossicles album into his own visual language, a pilot animation will be premiered on the night.