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Tim Hecker with the Konoyo Ensemble

+ Kara-Lis Coverdale

Tim Hecker standing in a temple

Digital and organic sonics come together in a special performance from the electronic producer accompanied by a Gagaku court ensemble.

From sounds so gentle as to be almost floating on air to heavy unworldly tonality, Hecker’s performance of music from his forthcoming record Konoyo – a collaboration with Japanese Gagaku musicians from Tokyo Gakuso, playing traditional instruments including shō, ryuteki and hichiriki – forms a hybrid recalling electronic abstractions and psychedelic American minimalism. Taking his explorations of noise, dissonance and melody into new territories, the natural sounds of the instrumentation both ring freely and are treated with Hecker’s signature brutal sounds. 

Opening the evening before performing as part of the Konoyo ensemble, regular collaborator Kara-Lis Coverdale creates colourful and dense arrangements with a unique approach to melody, harmony and sonic detail.
 

This performance will begin promptly at the advertised start time.

Running time: approx. 1 hours 50 minutes

This show will be one continuous performance with the opening performance from Kara-Lis Coverdale leading into Tim Hecker’s set – as a result there will be no interval

Timings are approximate and subject to change

Please note that this performance contains strobe lighting and large amounts of haze and smoke effects.

Produced by the Barbican in association with Bird on the Wire

Supported by the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation 

Programme

Discover

photo of car on fire

Listen: Tim Hecker – This Life (Konoyo)

Listen to Tim Hecker's 'This Life', taken from his new album Konoyo.

portrait of holly herndon in london

Listen: Electronic Music on Spotify

Follow our regularly updated Electronic Music playlist for a sample of the music you'll hear across our programme. 

Illustration of a Japanese garden

Long read: Japanese Pioneers

Tokyo-based journalist Ian F Martin looks back through the decades to see who was responsible for the genre-defining music emerging from the Japanese underground scenes over the past 40 years.

Supported by

The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation logo

Barbican Hall