faint

Pedro Rebelo, Franziska Schroeder, Steve Davis

cs088

FAINT is a project that explores two extremes of musical practice: free improvisation and composition for fixed medium. The trio formation with pianist/composer Pedro Rebelo, percussionist/composer Steve Davis and saxophonist Franziska Schroeder was born out of an impromptu encounter of the three musicians at the Sonic Arts Research Centre in Belfast, Northern Ireland. This double CD presents improvised recordings together with 19 short electroacoustic pieces by Pedro Rebelo which are exclusively based on these recordings. We would like to thank everyone at SARC for their enthusiasm and support, in particular ChrisCorrigan, Michael Alcorn, and Pearl Young. This CD was made possible through the generous support of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
Pedro Rebelo is a composer/digital artist working in electroacoustic music, digital media and installation. His approach to music making is informed by the use of improvisation and interdisciplinary structures. He has created a large body of work exploring the relationships between architecture and music including a series of pieces for soloists and live-electronics which take as a basis the interpretation of specific acoustic spaces. In the duo laut [www.lautnet.net] with saxophonist Franziska Schroeder he investigates the extension of interfaces and control in interactive performance practices. His electroacoustic music is featured in various CD sets (Sonic Circuits IV, Discontact III, Exploratory Music from Portugal, ARiADA). Pedro conducts research in the field of digital media, interactive sound and composition. His writings reflect his approach to design and composition by articulating creative practice in a wider understanding of cultural theory.
Pedro has been awarded a PhD in composition from the University of Edinburgh and is currently Director of Research at the Sonic Arts Research Centre, Queen's University Belfast.
Franziska Schroeder is a performer of saxophone and live-electronic music, a theorist and improviser. She is a founder of the digital media collective l a u t and has been awarded her PhD by the School of Arts, Culture and Environment at the University of Edinburgh, UK in 2006. Since the age of 9 she has been playing the saxophone in anything from out-of-tune brass bands, European music emsembles, chamber groups, oversized saxophone ensembles, saxophone quartets, duo to solo formations. Her development of contemporary saxophone playing has been shaped by Marie Bernadette Charrier from the Conservatoire Supérieure in Bordeaux. She has recorded for German and Australian radio and has commissioned various new works for the saxophone and received her Bachelor degree in saxophone performance in Australia. Her research interests include the intersection of philosophy and performance in technology-informed environments, in particular the role of the body in the age of technological change. She joined the editorial board for the ARiADA (Advanced Research in Aesthetics in the Digital Arts) - online journal, UK. Franziska is currently on a three year Research Fellowship funded by the AHRC at the Sonic Arts Research Centre in Belfast where she investigates network performances.
Steve 'Dakiz' Davis has been active as a percussionist and composer for the last 10 years. Steve was born in Belfast in 1974, started having a strange interest in hitting things around the age of 12, and he has continued this obsession ever since. He gained a BA(hons) in contemporary music from Leeds University in 2000, and a Distinction,  in a Post-Graduate Diploma in Jazz from Trinity School of Music London 2003. After this Steve studied at the Skidmore Jazz Institute in New York, on a Arts Council funded Scholarship. In 2003 he toured with the European Jazz Orchestra, playing 25 dates throughout all the member states; Denmark, Switzerland, Italy, Germany and so on. Living in London for the last 3 years he has been playing drums with the cream of London’s jazz community, including players such as Julian Seigal, Dylan Bates, Annie Whitehead, Ben Castle, Tom Arthurs, Martin Speak, Mark Lockheart, Jakie Dankworth, Mike Walker, and has also performed with many European and American musicians, such as Dick Oats, Curtis Fuller, Alan Vache, Brunno Tommaso, Marc Ribot, Joe Morris. He continues to concentrate on these and many other projects with the likes of Mathew Bourne, Dave Kane, Paul Dunmall, Django Bates, Brian Irvine,  and his own London based band HYPNOTOAD' who finished a tour of Ireland in 2004.