Stevon Russell and Richard Norris met at a Performing Rights Society event featuring their music and immediately decided to collaborate. Stevon and the Colour Collection’s concert tonight is inspired by multiple examples of Striations.
Musical : the composer, Pierre Boulez, talked about striated time in music.
Some sound events within a musical composition can appear to pop out more than others and demand the listener’s attention.
Geological : the lines and ridges which often appear in rock formations led Stevon and Richard to sample sounds produced by different rocks and feature them in their compositions.
Philosophical : The duo additionally took inspiration about striated space and time from the philosophers, Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari. Brian Massumi, the translator of Deleuze and Guattariís 1980 book, A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism & Schizophrenia, puts a couple of helpful pointers on smooth and striated space in the intro:
‘The space of nomad thought is qualitatively different from State space….State space is “striated” or gridded. Movement in it is confined as by gravity to a horizontal plane…Nomad space is “smooth” or open ended. One can rise up at any point and move to any other.’
Stevon and the Colour Collection’s enthusiasm for traditional sounds mixed with electronics and computers is continually evolving. Next year they are planning further concerts in London, Finland, Denmark and the US and are currently working on music for string quartet.
Stevon and the Colour Collection would like to thank Dr Helen Coxall and Uwe Ring from the Department of Geological Sciences, Stockholm University, Dr Peter Hall of Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts, London, Katy Gunn of Eastern Promise, Mark Amura, Tom Del Rio and George Moustakas.
Door 7pm | performance 8pm | entry £8
Stevon Russell
‘Beautifully musical guitar playing’ – The Sunday Times
‘A fine guitarist’ – The Independent
‘Opulent guitar chords’ – Metro
‘Atmospheric guitar playing’ -The Observer
‘Nicely written for two French horns and trombone’ – The Wire
Stevon Russell studied at the Royal College of Music and writes and records under several different names, The Stevon Window, Esteban Crujido and Europa 51.
His track Voyeurism, is the theme music for the BBC TV series ‘Britain By Bike’, he has also produced remixes for Red Snapper, The Polyphonic Spree and Stereolab.
Stevon composes music for theatre and dance and wrote and performed the live, solo guitar music for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s sell-out production ‘Venus And Adonis’ – Critic’s Choice Metro November 2004.
Richard Norris
‘A treat for both the eyes and the ears… not to be missed’ – The Musician Magazine
‘Those who believe that dance music and string quartets should not mix may be horrified. Personally, I loved it’ – Anglia Squared
‘Complex, evocative soundscapes’ – Artdesk
Richard Norris writes and performs in many guises, including folk duo, Split Arrow, electronic collaboration, Opposites React, and in the capacity of writer/ producer with various solo artists.
He studied at Goldsmiths and Royal Holloway, ultimately producing an ambitious classical/electronic fusion album with his Opposites React project. This spurred a live performance that has developed into a regular fusion night.
Richard won the Royal Television Society’s Best Promotional Video award 2016 and his score for Part and Parcel was nominated for the Best Original Score at the International Filmmaker Festival of World Cinema 2106. Richard composed the music for the short film, Cross, which is currently showing at international film festivals including Talahasee, Bilbao, Southampton and Mamaris.
Richard is the co-founder of Unorthodox Audio, a new sample library company producing libraries with unconventional and new approaches.
