PHRASED & CONFUSED
Which comes first? The music or the words?
Wed 5th Oct: Luminaire (London)
Sun 8th Oct: Colchester Arts Centre (Colchester)
Mon 9th Oct: Norwich Arts Centre (Norwich)
Wed 18th Oct: The Y (Leicester)
Thu 19th Oct: Komedia Brighton (Brighton)
Sat 21st Oct: The Brewery (Kendal)
Main event featuring:
Emma Pollock (ex Delgados)
Chris T-T
Brendan Cleary
Sore Throat
Preceded by free afternoon seminars for aspiring live literature producers.
Devised by the hub and supported by Arts Council England.
ABOUT PHRASED & CONFUSED…
“The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep, while my guitar gently weeps.”
Have you ever played the game where you make a hypothetical choice about which of two things you’d keep in your life, at the eternal expense of the other? Like "beer or wine?" "Ears or eyes?" "To love or to be loved?" If the choice was "words or music?" which would you keep? Hemingway or Hendrix? Your ipod or the morning paper? Or is it an impossible choice - because music is a language and Bob Dylan without the lyrics would just be a pleasant but meaningless series of guitar strums?
Phrased & Confused invites the world to consider the interaction between words and music - where one ends and the other begins - through the prism of four unique talents. Emma Pollock and Chris T-T are singer-songwriters of the best, most lucidly imaginative kind, ammunition to the argument that songs have supplanted poems as vessels of popular emotion - but don’t they have to be ‘writers’ as well as ‘musicians’ to do what they do so well? Brendan Cleary, on the other hand, is a poet in a more traditional sense, yet there is a definite melody to what he does, so much so that his work has been described as a "modern blues". And Sore Throat sit in a compelling middle ground, taking elements of live and recorded music, written and spoken word to create what they call "poetry and beat" (as opposed to "beat poetry").
Each act will give a live performance and there will also be the chance to take in previously unseen live collaborations between the musicians and the poets, creating a series of unmissable and unpredictable nights out for anyone who can’t decide between their love of words and their passion for music.
Each show will be preceded by a free session for new and emerging live literature producers who are interested in developing work with the venue. During the last Phrased & Confused tour in 2004, the hub identified a lack of producers with the skills and networks in place to produce quality live literature events and tours - a situation these sessions will help to remedy. Producers will be invited to submit proposals to the venues and a selected producer from each will be supported to develop his or her idea at the venue and be offered a place on a national producer training programme which is running alongside this project.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS…
EMMA POLLOCK
Emma Pollock signed with 4AD last year after the amicable split of renowned Scottish band The Delgados, who were together for more than ten years and produced 5 critically acclaimed albums. She is currently working on her first solo album, due for release next year, with former Beth Orton, Nick Cave and PJ Harvey producer Victor Van Vugt. She is also developing a forthcoming release by Chemikal Underground that marries contemporary Scottish artists with newly commissioned Scottish poetry, including contributions from Teenage Fanclub, Vashti Bunyan, James Yorkston, Malcolm Middleton and King Creosote. On her music Emma says, “In many respects song-writing is about the song, it’s about making sure there’s something there that grabs you and makes you want to keep listening.”
www.emmapollock.com
www.myspace.com/emmapollock
CHRIST T-T
Chris T-T is a radical English wordsmith, likened to Billy Bragg, with a razor-sharp wit. Words, observational poetry and storytelling are at the heart of his music. He has headlined throughout the UK and toured internationally with the likes of Ben Folds, British Sea Power, Divine Comedy, Elbow and KT Tunstall to name a few. With 5 albums to his name already Chris T-T is currently working on two more, one of which, entitled Capital, will complete a trilogy of releases based on London.
www.christt.com
www.myspace.com/christtuk
BRENDAN CLEARY
Brendan Cleary is a highly respected poet with several published collections to his name including ‘The Irish Card’, ‘Sacrilege’ and ’stranger in the house’. His latest work ‘Weightless’ has been described as a modern blues. Originally hailing from Northern Ireland Brendan now lives in Brighton where he also teaches poetry. His poetry often throws up a haunting and vital melody, with hearts and minds and the disorder of the city being laid bare. It can also be darkly comic in turns (Brendan has a penchant for stand-up too) as a voice for the dispossessed, the bed-sit dwellers and the losers in love.
"Brendan Cleary is renowned for performances of his poetry… he is as clear on the page as he is on the stage" (Milner Place).
www.wreckingballpress.com/html/cleary.html
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SORE THROAT
Sore Throat are writer/poet Mike Benson and DJ Will Flisk. The duo uniquely combine their talents as producers of live and recorded music, written and spoken word to put the beat back into beat poetry. Previously Mike has worked with Howie B and Will has been the driving force behind the Moulin-X Sound System club nights. In 2005 Sore Throat teamed up with soul jazz singer David McAlmont to perform a series of critically acclaimed gigs in some of London’s finest venues. Look out for a book and CD from Sore Throat in the near future. Talking about his writing Mike says, “The big inspirations are John Lennon, Lou Reed and Bob Dylan with a splash of Bohumil Hrabal, Kurt Vonnegut and Tom Robbins”.
www.verysorethroat.co.uk
www.myspace.com/verysorethroat
ABOUT THE HUB (IN THEIR OWN WORDS)
the hub is a dynamic arts development practice. We have a clear mission, which informs everything that we do:
•the hub develops new thinking and practice in the arts
•we create and work on projects that excite us
•we enable others to better meet their potential
•we share our knowledge to improve our cultural landscape
Our entrepreneurial, ‘think and do tank’ approach to development marks us out from other consultancies and public sector agencies.
We combine our own practice with consultancy we think and do in order to learn, and we share with our partners, clients and peers what we learn.
We work in this way because we value our independence, because we’re excited by ideas, and because we’re motivated by a desire to develop our cultural landscape.
www.thehubuk.com
