Hertford & Somerville College Lecturer in Music Dr Alice Barron has released her debut album with April Twelves, called 'Hesperidium'.
Alice and Ole André Farstad create original music for prepared sarods, violins, viola, slide guitar and electronics. Born out of a series of improvisations, this project explores the colours, textures and resonances from encounters with Indian classical instruments. Both the Hindustani slide guitar and Karnatic violin have an intercultural story after traveling to India from Hawaii and Europe, respectively.
‘Hesperidium’ is a personal response of 8 pieces, or segments, which explore the parallel musical concepts that Indian classical music has in a contemporary context in relation to string playing. In particular, the rich sonorities that are made possible through the sympathetic strings of the sarods and slide guitar, as well as using experimental techniques and sampling the instruments with live electronics.
This album experiments with the sense of time, for both performers and audience – expanding time on many levels, from the macro scale of timelessness to the micro details of moving between notes in a considered way. April Twelves make slow music for an immersive and inquisitive listening experience.
Dr Alice Barron is a violinist-composer based in London, with a distinctive international career in contemporary and intercultural musics. Alice has performed as principal second violin for Nigel Kennedy’s Orchestra of Life in Paris and Vienna; in ‘Measure For Measure’ at Shakespeare’s Globe (violin and voice); regularly with London Sinfonietta including at the BBC Proms and Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival; at WOMAD Australia and New Zealand with Sam Lee; with Rambert, Quincy Jones, Talvin Singh and L. Subramaniam. Current interdisciplinary and intercultural composition projects include ‘SHE’ with storyteller Vayu Naidu (Women in the Arts Festival 2022); a forthcoming album release for violin/viola, prepared sarods and electronics with Ole André Farstad; music for Himali Singh Soin's ‘Third Pole’ exhibition in Madrid (2022); and UK performances with Kathak dance, sitar and tabla (Sanju Sahai). With an individual style that sits at the intersections of classical, folk and experimental musics, Alice uses improvisation as a means of composition.
To listen to/purchase/download the album, please visit April Twelves' Bandcamp.
