Press room

SHABAKA

British musician and composer Shabaka Hutchings returns for a major solo artist performance in the Barbican Hall in May 2024. Joined by a band, Shabaka will perform work from his debut solo album, 2022’s Afrikan Culture (Impulse! Records) as well a new material yet to be announced. 

Shabaka’s work transcends conventional notions of genre and draws from a vast pallet of cultural influences. Whilst Shabaka is undeniably a pioneering voice in the renaissance of British Jazz, his remit is much broader: he has also performed classical concertos with world-leading orchestras; led several hugely influential bands (Sons of Kemet, The Comet is Coming, Shabaka and The Ancestors) and has more recently released 2022’s Afrikan Culture, a work of exceptional beauty and urgency, focussed around the eastern Asian instrument, the shakuhachi - a flute made from bamboo - of which Shabaka is a major exponent.

“With Afrikan Culture Hutchings is coaxing introspection while urging us to be less cautious and follow the memories.” – Pitchfork

Produced By the Barbican in association with Eat Your Own Ears and AEG

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Efterklang

Danish band Efterklang return to the Barbican in October 2024 for a one-of-a-kind celebration as they prepare to release new music.

Ever-exploring, Efterklang has been releasing acclaimed albums since 2004 on record labels such as Leaf, 4AD, and City Slang. Over the years, they have gained a reputation as one of the most engaging and dazzling live bands. The group has a special gift for creating concert experiences that are inclusive and inspiring as well as experimental and ambitious. The band's music ingeniously weaves together elements from pop, indie-rock, post-rock, and electronic music.

Returning once more to the Barbican almost exactly 20 years after the release of their debut album and following their latest euphoric performance at the centre in March 2020 whilst touring their album Altid Sammen (4AD, 2019), the band has since released a new album Windflowers (City Slang, 2021) and has plans for new music on the horizon later this year. 

The three childhood friends and founding band members: Mads Brauer, Casper Clausen, and Rasmus Stolberg will invite a strong line-up of musicians to join them on stage at the Barbican, taking audiences on a joyous journey through brand new tracks and timeless classics from Efterklang’s flourishing catalogue.

Produced by the Barbican

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SUPPORT ACT ANNOUNCED

L’Rain
+ Hinako Omori

Multi-instrumentalist, composer, performer and curator L’Rain (Taja Cheek) makes her Barbican debut following the release of her critically acclaimed third album I Killed Your Dog.

With I Killed Your Dog (Mexican Summer, 2023) Taja Creek brings her L’Rain project to Milton Court. Alongside long-time collaborators Andrew Lappin and Ben Chapoteau-Katz, Cheek has developed L’Rain into a shape-shifting entity that blurs the line between band and individual. Beginning as an abstract meditation on grief, Cheek traces the origins of L’Rain to the period which followed the dissolution of her vibrant DIY musical community in early 2010s NYC and the passing of her mother, Lorraine. The name L’Rain was conceived as both a tribute to her mother and her own gregarious alter ego L’ (lah-postrophe).

Support for the evening comes from London-based Japanese composer, artist, arranger, vocalist and synth virtuoso, Hinako Omori, whose work articulates a whole world in binaural field recordings, analogue synthesisers and augmented vocals.

Produced by the Barbican in association with Form

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MATINEE PERFORMANCE ADDED
Adrianne Lenker 

with friends 

American indie-folk singer, songwriter and musician Adrianne Lenker makes her Barbican debut performance as she performs solo material from her forthcoming album and catalogue joined by friends and special guests.  

Lenker is best known as the lead vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter of Brooklyn-based indie folk band, Big Thief. Popularised through Lenker's powerful, emotive vocals, Big Thief’s unique sound combines elements of folk, lo-fi, alt-country, and indie rock.  

As a solo artist Lenker is a generational songwriter, performing at an unprecedented scale and continuing to surprise listeners. Lenker and friends will make a stop at the Barbican in April as part of a wider tour across the UK and Europe. Here, she unveils music from her new and highly anticipated solo album, to be released on 4AD in 2024.   

Produced by the Barbican in association with Bird on the Wire 

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