Blending choral, ambient and noise influences together into his customised array of analogue tape decks, composer/vocalist Ian William Craig moves you over shifting tectonic plates of operatic improvisations, fields of tape hiss, haunting pastoral melodies and billowing clouds of becoming.
Born in Edmonton, Canada in 1980, Craig’s practice runs on a combination of classical vocal training and process-based uncertainty. He received his MFA in printmaking from the University of Alberta, and after moving to Vancouver, began self-releasing albums from his new home on the coast of Canada.
Drawing out analogies between his dual practices of music and print-making, Ian’s work is deeply informed by a narrative of impermanence, “notions of life as an act of becoming, and beauty within degradation and deterioration – these have been kernels that I’ve been really drawn to … When I listen back to my compositions and I look at the art I create, there’s some kind of aesthetic drive or core that I seem to constantly orbit…these becoming forms and notions of decay and circling.”
Craig turned to his background in musical theatre, avant-classical orchestration and the choral tradition for his first two physical recordings, A Turn of Breath and Cradle for the Wanting, which were issued by Recital Program to critical acclaim. His latest album Centres will be released on Fat Cat Records in July.
Ian William Craig’s show in Durbe is second in the series of a number of cultural events that are taking place in Durbe over the Spring and Summer and are welcoming the sixth edition of Zemlika Festival that shall take place over the weekend of October 28 & 29, 2016 in Durbe, Latvia.
The concert series is supported by Valmiermuizas alus.
Strictly limited amount of tickets on sale!