Xylouris White + Thus Owls
Monday 1st December 2014
Van Coeur + DJ Grant
At The Hope & Ruin
Doors 8:00 pm
Price £9 / £11
Melting Vinyl Presents…
XYLOURIS WHITE + THUS OWLS
A co-headling show from 2 compelling duos. Xylouris White’s unique world music is enthralling and adventurous. Thus Owls stems from musical paradoxes, harshness and sweetness, dark and tender, creating an engaging experimental sound.
Xylouris White brings together two masters of contemporary music: Jim White, a founder of the internationally acclaimed trio Dirty Three and Giorgos Xylouris (Psaragiorgis) the master lutenist who has been described as ‘the future of Cretan music’.
Xylouris / White initially met at the Nick Cave curated All Tomorrows Parties festival where they were performing with George’s father – the legendary Cretan lyra player Psarantonis. George Xylouris and Jim White enjoyed the collaboration so much they formed their own project as a duo.
Together Xylouris White have created a new and compelling blend of melody and rhythm.
Jim and Psaragiorgis first played together in Melbourne. Since then they have been on a wonderful journey across the world. George’s melodies toy relentlessly with Jim’s drum patterns. It’s music that lives and breathes as it evolves.
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Thus Owls are a five-piece Montreal/Stockholm band based around husband and wife duo Erika and Simon Angell. The band originated in Sweden as an outlet for Erika’s songs and unique vocal-style. She met Simon by chance while the two were touring in Europe as part of different bands paired on the same bill. It wasn’t long before they were married, and making music together as Thus Owls.
Erika recalls that she “fell in love with Simon’s sound right away,” citing the “harshness and the sweetness combined” of his guitar, as well as his experimental approach to music. These types of paradoxes form the core of Thus Owls’s sound, at times dark and psychedelic, others tender and vulnerable.
Rounded out by drummer Stef Schneider and keyboard-player Parker Shper, the band has quickly built a reputation in Montreal for their powerful live show.
Support comes from:
Van Coeur
“Van Coeur are a band built out of members of a number of really excellent local acts (Good Morning Captain, -A +M, 21 Crows) and play mood-enhancing drone-laden doom-folk-rock.” – Brighton Music Blog
DJ set from DJ Grant