Chris Sharkey guitar & fx Dee Byrne alto sax & fx
Johnny Hunter drums & fx Mick Bardon bass guitar & fx
Now It Can Be Told brings Post-rock influences, such as Mogwai, Tortoise and Sigur Ros, to the forefront and investigates the use of electronics in Jazz. The piece combines old and new methods of composition and improvisation. For example, experimentation with the music’s form throughout creates a sense of the performance being a journey, and applying more traditional counterpoint techniques alongside elements of serialism results in twists and turns in the music which are unexpected in both the Post Rock and Jazz settings.
“An imaginative set of 21st-century bebop mixed with electronic echoes” – John Fordham, The Guardian, June 2016
Originally written for the Johnny Hunter Quartet, the piece has been performed in many states of development although never quite achieving what I’d set out to do. I realised that it was just not the correct ensemble to play this music (basically, it needed fx-laden electric guitar!) and therefore I formed a new band with Dee Byrne, Michael Bardon and Chris Sharkey.
Dee Byrne
Saxophonist and composer based in London, Dee runs her own quintet Entropi, as well as the duo Deemer, exploring improvisation and electronics. In 2013 she co-founded LUME with Cath Roberts, which has grown into a busy and successful record label/music organisation. Entropi has released two albums: New Era in 2015 (F-IRE presents) and Moment Frozen in 2017 (Whirlwind Recordings).
Michael Bardon
Michael is one of the most in-demand bass players in the North of England, working with a variety of musicians from different disciplines and backgrounds, throughout the UK and Europe. These include Shatner’s Bassoon, Tipping Point, Sean Noonan’s Pavees Dance, Hiby-Bardon-Hession Trio, Hession/DeBezenac/Bardon, Craig Scott’s Lobotomy, Dave Kane’s Rabbit Project Orchestra, Nat Birchall Quintet and Ben Cottrell’s New Seeing.
Chris Sharkey
Based in Leeds since 1999, Chris has dedicated the last 20 years to making forward-thinking new music that blurs boundaries between improvisation, production, composition and the associated genres of these often separated fields. He is an active national and international artist, performing with Charles Hayward (This Heat) , Jack Wylie (Portico), Roller Trio, Anton Eger’s Æ, Joshua Blackmore’s SiZE, Acoustic Ladyland, trioVD, Shiver, The Geordie Approach, and as a solo artist. Chris is a also a producer and has recorded, mixed, remixed and mastered music for for Keeley Forsyth, Matthew Bourne, Seb Rochford, Oliver Coates ACV, Mole, Taupe, Troyka, World Service Project, trioVD, Shiver, Beyond Albedo, Session Fries, Lara Jones, J Frisco, The Geordie Approach, Roller Trio, and The Orchid and The Wasp amongst many more.