Charlie Looker
Presents Simple Answers
with Daisy Press and special guests
Thursday, June 14th
7pm doors • 8pm show
About the Show
This concert celebrates the release of Simple Answers, the new album by native New York composer/vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Charlie Looker (Psalm Zero, ex-Extra Life, ex-Zs). After a decade of accolades for his work leading underground bands spanning the experimental, metal, and indie scenes, Looker releases the first record under his own name: a highly ambitious concept album, written for 17-piece chamber orchestra, singers, and electronics. This rare occasion will feature the full ensemble from the album plus special guests.
About the Album
Simple Answers forms a unique bridge between disparate sonic realms. The drones and dissonance of abstract modern classical composition, dramatic post-punk vocal hooks, lush 19th Century romanticism, Medieval choral beauty, horror film score cacophony, and even some rhythms and textures from trap rap and R&B, all come together in dark, cinematic epics. Special guest sopranos Daisy Press and Megan Schubert join Looker in harmony on several pieces, other times taking the lead themselves. Members of the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Wet Ink Ensemble, and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra comprise the wind and brass sections, while strings are rendered by the acclaimed Mivos Quartet. Rising virtuoso pianist/composer Kelly Moran provides piano and keyboards throughout.
Lyrically, the conceptual foundation of the song cycle is an equally gnarled intersection. Using as a departure point the works of two very strange bedfellows, French feminist psychoanalyst/philosopher Julia Kristeva, and American comedian Patrice O’Neal (RIP), Looker uses tropes from both thinkers’ oeuvres to understand the psychology behind today’s global rising tide of fascist ideology. The songs spiral through themes of power, masculinity, Jewish self-hatred, addiction, brainwashing, and the occult, often within a single line.
For this concert, the ensemble will be led by renown conductor David Bloom (Contemporaneous). They will also be joined by special guest lead vocalist Doug Moore (of NY death metal experimentalists Pyrrhon) performing surprise cover songs, arranged by Looker for the occasion.
Opening the evening will be the ensemble’s own soprano Daisy Press, performing a solo set of the music of Hildegard von Bingen, the legendary 12th Century composer, writer, abbess, and mystic.
Simple Answers is out June 15 on double-LP and digital formats, through Looker’s own Last Things Records.
About the Artists
Charlie Looker
Looker was a founding member of the experimental collective Zs, establishing his roots in the early 00s Brooklyn DIY scene. In 2007 he formed his own band Extra Life which built a devout international following before disbanding in 2012. Since then, his main performing vehicle has been metal/electronic project Psalm Zero (Profound Lore Records), as well as his chamber works. Looker’s diverse credits as a sideman and/or producer include Dirty Projectors, Tyondai Braxton, Amanda Palmer, Zeal & Ardor, Mick Barr, and Jherek Bischoff. Looker has received commissions and residencies from the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Yarn/Wire, Ostrava New Music Days Festival (Czech), SEM Ensemble, Experiments in Opera (New York), and the Stone (New York). Voted one of the top 100 American composers under 40 by WNYC (2011), his music has been performed at festivals including Primavera Sound (Spain), Ecstatic Music Festival (New York), Bad Bonn (Switzerland), Villette Sonique (France), and Sound Forest (Latvia).
Personnel:
Erin Lesser & Kelley Barnett: flute, piccolo
Karisa Werdon: oboe
Joshua Rubin: clarinet
Vasko Dukovski: bass clarinet
Elizabeth Fleming: horn
Gareth Flowers: trumpet
Jacob Garchik: bass trombone
Kelly Moran: piano, keyboard
Caley Monahon-Ward: guitar
Dennis Sullivan & Russell Greenberg: percussion
Charlie Looker: tenor, guitar
Daisy Press & Megan Schubert: sopranos
Olivia de Prato & Lauren Cauley: violin
Victor Lowrie: viola
Mariel Roberts: cello
Greg Chudzik: contrabass
Alan Pierson: conductor
Doug Moore & Zohra Atash: featured guest vocalists
Daisy Press
Daisy Press is a prominent interpreter of experimental music in the US and Europe and a principal vocalist at Brooklyn’s famed performance space “House of Yes.” She has worked closely with influential living composers such as Steve Reich, Bernhard Lang, and George Crumb, and for her recording and performance of Morton Feldman’s seminal “Three Voices,” the New York Times hailed Ms. Press as “intrepid” and “passionate.”
Ms. Press is a specialist in the music of 12th-century mystic Hildegard of Bingen, and she incorporates elements of North Indian (Hindustani) ragas into her unusual and extraordinary interpretations of Hildegard’s Medieval chants.
At House of Yes Daisy regularly collaborates with the in-house collection of circus artists to compose, improvise and perform works which embody virtuosity, ecstasy, holiness, humor, and a healthy dose of irreverence. Daisy is the founder and High Priestess of the phenomenon known as“Voice Cult,” a monthly performance art vocal community ritual.
