Strata by Naomi Perera and Adam Langley

Monday 16th March 2020: The UK government announces a ban on mass gatherings, and all non-essential workers are confined to their homes, no contact with others. For a duo whose music is based around live performance and face to face improvisation, this is the end. Instead of a performance of artistic expression, meeting up to play music together is now a dangerous and antisocial act. There followed weeks of aimlessness and creative drought...

Until a plan was hatched; a way to keep things live and improvised but with added physical and temporal distance - inspired by the surrealist technique of The Exquisite Corpse, in which collaborators add to a work in sequence, following pre-set rules. A duration and a number of layers was decided for each piece beforehand. The duo then took it in turns to record layers; live in one take, with no overdubs, and no guidance from the other. In this way, the structure of the pieces was gradually improvised, layer by layer, building up to create the final completed piece.

Working in this way opened up possibilities in texture and form that had not been possible beforehand, as the duo had been limited to the two layers that were possible to produce in real time performance. The pieces embrace all the sounds of lockdown; birds singing, water gushing, the voices of neighbours mumbling through walls. Flute melodies entwine with sequenced synths, washes of electronics and pulsating textures combine with mysterious vocalisations and extended techniques. From grief and unease to catharsis and hope, this is a work created in a both a whirlwind of global fear and the stillness of enforced isolation.

Naomi Perera's music is characterised by risk and improvisatory flair. She pushes the boundaries of the flute through unexpected sounds, drama and instinct to create an infectious sonic world carefully straddling the line between accessible and avante-garde.

naomiperera.com
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