Interview: Viridian Ensemble | LOUD Magazine

Interview: Viridian Ensemble | LOUD Magazine

Posted on: 22 Apr 2020

This article was first published in the second edition of LOUD Magazine, 365Bristol's dedicated music publication. 



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Virdian Ensemble

 

A collective of interdisciplinary creatives, Viridian Ensemble offer an intriguing blend of free improvisation and experimental film. To date, they’ve performed at St George’s and more recently, as part of Young Echo’s two-day residency at London’s Café OTO. To learn more about the group’s formation, inspirations and approach to performance, I meet Viridian percussionist Esme Betamax and Laura Philips, the ensemble’s visual and waterphone artist. 

 

Though the collective has taken part in some impressive events, Viridian hasn’t been around for long. Founded by Laura in 2017, alongside vocalist Dali de Saint Paul, cellist Liz Muir and double bassist Caitlin Alais Callahan (the group’s current iteration also includes flautist Tina Hitchens), Viridian aims to challenge and reimagine tropes of femininity through improvised sound and image, both digital and analogue. The group’s formation, Laura tells me, was prompted by an act of misogyny experienced by a founding member.

 

In part, Viridian is a mode of female empowerment and collaboration. They explore different narratives within the women’s liberation movement, and during live performances, work to create a collective voice, thus shunning individualism. Combining image, voice, cello and double bass, the group challenge the image of a sole, female lead. Instead, their live performance is more fluid and synergistic. “Even though I’m down as the percussionist, I’m not the only one who does percussion,” says Esme. “Caitlin can be very percussive on the double bass.”

 

“So, because of all the layers, quite often people come up afterwards and say: I don’t know what I was hearing. There was a bit – and I don’t know who was making that sound! And I love that. We’re speaking with one voice. It’s not like we’re taking it in turns to do solos, say.”

Credit: Dom MooreCredit: Dom MoorePhotos taken by Dom Moore

 

Viridian Ensemble is inspired by the vanguards of feminist free improvisation, such as the Feminist Improvising Group (FIG); an avant-garde ensemble formed in 1970s London to challenge the male-dominated improvisation community. However, Laura says Viridian performances are less transgressive than that of FIG. Instead, the ensemble explore narratives of femininity with more subtlety. “[FIG] would sometimes have performances with a lot of nakedness and goading the audience,” Laura explains, “as well as quite out-there free improv. But for us…” Esme laughs: “I’m yet to get naked - is that what you’re saying?”

 

Take Laura’s eerie use of 16mm expanded film and digital projection as an example of this subtly: in conventional Hollywood cinema, she explains, women are depicted as objects of desire and sexuality. “We’re the antithesis of that,” Laura says. “You might get a part of a body, but you might not necessarily know which gender that body is.” Laura also mentions her subtle use of colour: it references the role of the colourist, one of the first professions in the film industry known to be open to women.

 

In other ways, FIG and Viridian are rather similar. Both are comprised of individuals from different backgrounds, with divergent experiences of music-making and varying levels of musicianship. Like FIG’s founder, Maggie Nicols, Viridian view these differences as a strength, due to the polyphonic and serendipitous musical effects they can create. Whilst Caitlin, Liz and Tina are classically-trained musicians, Laura, Esme and Dali are self-taught. “Me, Esme and Dali are very punk,” says Laura. Esme, for example, is also part of Bristol punk band The Perverts. “We’re all creative in more ways than just being musicians,” adds Esme, “but being in a band with highly trained musicians makes me up my game. It’s exciting.”

 

A project that exists primarily in the live space (though, Viridian have released an EP, Trotula, on Bandcamp) the group are looking forward to their upcoming performance at the contemporary music festival, Bristol New Music. But what can we expect from a Viridian gig? “People have often said that it’s quite disconcerting and disquieting, watching our performances – they’re often phantasmagorical, or there’s elements of horror,” explains Laura. Enveloping and multifaceted, Viridian’s performances are certainly idiosyncratic, in that they combine the two niches of experimental film and music. And whilst the pair acknowledge the project is indeed leftfield, they say at its core, a Viridian performance is an immersive event. “You can let it wash over you, and you don’t have to get all the references,” says Laura. “It’s more how you would approach poetry. You can just absorb it, and go with it.” I ask how they might explain the project to a newcomer, and Esme happily obliges: “I always talk about the classically-trained musicians, and then I say: and there’s the three of us, who, like, fuck their shit up!” I’m sold – who wouldn’t be?

Credit: Eileen LongCredit: Eileen LongPhotos taken by Eileen Long

 

Viridian Ensemble form part of a wider improvisation community in Bristol. Vocalist Dali, for instance, is a prolific collaborator, and runs monthly electro-acoustic improv night, The Sound Cupboard, at The Crofters Rights. Another critical space for the local improv community, and Viridian, was now-defunct The Brunswick Club. The venue last year. A community arts space, The Brunswick provided Viridian with a place to rehearse, gig and meet other creatives. It's also where Trotula was recorded. Both Laura and Esme speak longingly of the community and collaboration fostered by The Brunswick. 

 

If anything, it’s clear that Viridian truly embody the community which first united them; throughout our interview, Laura and Esme mention the discussion, learning and collaboration that takes place within the ensemble. “Women are set up to compete,” Esme says of current political and media depictions of feminism. “They must be competing for a job, or a man, or for something. And we’re putting a challenge out there, saying: no, we all support each other and we all work together. We lift each other up. That comes through in the way we are with each other, and through our music as well.” Laura agrees: “it’s an act of solidarity.”

 

Main image: Dom Moore Photography 


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Article by:

Kate Hutchison

 


Kate Hutchison

Get in touch with Kate at kate@365bristol.com