Dublin Fixations

John Butcher + 11

John Butcher, saxophones
Dieb13, turntables
Ståle Liavik Solberg, drums
Sophie Agnel, piano
Isabell Duthois, voice & clarinet
6 others to be confirmed

John Butcher Dublin Fixations (world premiere)

In John Butcher’s Dublin Fixations, the musicians bring their own, very personal languages into a composition based on what Butcher calls psychological orchestration: a process of imagining how particular musicians might respond to particular directives, in this work combining precise notation, text, imagery, instructions and pre-recordings. The latter are new pieces that use ‘close-miking’ to manipulate some of the ‘hidden’ sound possibilities of the saxophone. These are then cut to vinyl and manipulated live by turntablist Dieb13.

Dublin Fixations naturally moves between small-scale, highly individual combinations and the orchestral totality of these collective forces, aiming to create a coherent structure and sense of unity that still encourages improvisation, so that the musicians engage with the mystery of the work’s internal logic in the spontaneity of the moment.

Fluid Fixations
“They create an extraordinarily wide range of sounds across the eight-movement piece’s running time, from deep bass drones like a wooden ship’s hold creaking, to rattling waves of percussion, to electronics that crackle and swoop to vocal interjections, coughs and squawks, to horns that rise up and cry out like a Greek chorus bemoaning some tragedy” WIRE

In the hands of London improvisor John Butcher, the saxophone can sound like anything, from a piece of hollowed out brass baubled with pads and valves to a hermetically sealed feedback system, a miniature sound environment teeming with ever-evolving note-forms, or a huge echo chamber inflicting dub scale damage on every breath.
The Wire

English saxophonist John Butcher has been operating at the cutting-edge of improvisatory practice since the ‘80s. Whenever an acoustic musician starts to sound like a bank of oscillators, a tropical forest, a brook or an insect factory, Butcher’s influence is likely nearby.
New York City Jazz Record.

“Extraordinarily powerful, Butcher’s saxophone may test the limits of one’s ear to make sense of the close and complex relationships that are put forth, but there’s an undeniable emotional depth and sheer beauty in his work that supersedes technicality and concept.”
Tiny Mix Tapes.

Presented by New Music Dublin 
Sponsored by  RTE/NCH/Arts Council Ireland