Ruth’s interest in expanding the sound world of the harp has led her to use electronics increasingly in her music.
Graham Fitkin’s rhythmic, multi layered music takes the intimate sound of Ruth’s three harps into a new world of pixellated timbres, expanding harmonic plateaux and scattered beats in the album Still Warm. Alternating nostalgia, brutality and sensuality this new score explores aurally the notions of disenfranchisement and loss in the corporate world. Central to the show is a new film involving live cameras and pe-recorded footage from Marc Silver and Nick Corrigan.
Ruth plays three harps – the lever harp, the buzzing bray harp and the Irish Wire strung harp while Graham mixes and digitally manipulates these sounds live. The first performances of the work were at the Eden Sessions in 2006, and in 2007 Still Warm was performed at more than 20 venues including The Liquid Rooms, Monza Milan, Union Chapel inLondon, The Sage Gateshead and as part of St Ives Festival. Still Warm has been played on BBC Radio 1 and 3, and received 5 stars in BBC Music Magazine.
Valuable support for the project has come from The Eden Project, PRSF, Arts Council England, Arts and Business and Classic FM.
‘Immaculate’ BBC Music Magazine
‘Harps set free into a wonderland of synths and sampling’ Metro
‘Astonishing album’ Resident-Music.com
‘Majestic harp melodies’ Musera
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