BRIAN ENO A pivotal musical figure on a global scale


for the best part of half a century now, Eno will open Festival Of Voice with its keynote speech, these being something of a speciality of his. If you most readily associate him for his coining and development of the ambient genre, you might think it ironic that a composer of such pointedly instrumental works has been invited to kick off an event which celebrates the power of the human vocal. Of course, there is a great deal more than that on Eno’s vast CV as a composer and producer. His brother Roger Eno will perform live on Sun 7 Nov, too.


MAX RICHTER


One of the most respected names in modern composition, the Anglo-German Max Richter cut his teeth in 90s dance music and retained that nonconformist sensibility on becoming a classical musician in his own right. Over nearly 20 years, his


influenced albums and minimalism-adjacent arrangements have found a sizeable audience, with particularly calculator-exploding streaming stats, and Richter has frequently dabbled in opera, ballet and film soundtrack work. For his first performance in Wales, the pianist will be joined by Sinfonia Cymru for a doubtless stirring conclusion to FIV’s opening evening.


KELSEY LU A composer from North Carolina who


currently lives in London, Kelsey Lu is an exemplar of how, in 2021, avant-garde string music and brash neo-pop can intersect without either party being diluted or led astray. Solange and Blood Orange had both enlisted the cellist’s talents before Lu garnered attention in their own right with their 2019 debut album Blood, where dignified classical parts coexist with electronica and field recordings. Latest release Hydroharmonia is a 20-minute piece incorporating ambient stylings and spoken word. Moreover, their queer and Black identity is centred in Lu’s work, notable in the context of much of the classical and avant-garde establishment.


TRICKY FOV makes a point of noting that this


performance, second on the bill to pastel- shaded synthpoppers Hot Chip, will feature Tricky backed by a live band. This isn’t, or at least shouldn’t be, a lionising of the ‘band format’ so much as an observation that the driven Bristolian shapeshifter can turn out an incredible show with this setup: lights low-to-extinguished, abrasive retoolings of music which, while exciting, can be imposing even in its studio version. Tricky burned so bright in his first few years of 90s fame that it proved impossible to maintain on musical and personal levels, but he’s rarely stood still over the last 25 years plus


JUICE MENACE “They said I’m acting like a narcissist / I


said thank you, my day is going marvellous.” Juice Menace dipped a toe in rap circa her late teens, found she was actually really good at it, accrued a rep in her Cardiff locale, linked up with producers from further afield (bouncy UK garage bossman Conducta, for example), shuffled between south Wales and London for a bit and eventually moved to the English capital late last year. This will be Juice Menace’s first hometown live performance since chat really started about her, with recent singles 24s and Fuptheclub doubtless getting aired.


moving, ambient-


ANNA MEREDITH Scottish composer Anna Meredith bisects


modern classical and leftfield indie with uncanny precision, her two studio albums Varmints and Fibs both arriving via the Moshi Moshi label and the latter getting the time-honoured Mercury nomination. She’s also composed for the Proms, the 2008 broadcast of that work finding her biggest audience to date, and in her recorded work has moved back and forth between electronic synthesis and live, lush instrumentation. Her shows are renowned for bringing a rockier, danceable dimension to the orchestral intricacy of her compositions.


NUHA RUBY RA With only one mini-album to her name


so far, this London artist has turned some heads while proving impressively tough to categorise. How To Move, released in March, finds Nuha Ruby Ra wailing plaintively and narrating intensely over big rock riffs, jazzy horn burble, murky electronics and low-lit soundtracky moments. Some of it’s fairly unambiguous relationship waffle, lyrically speaking, other parts are more obtuse and poetic. This performance will be Ra’s return to Wales after playing the main stage at Green Man last month: she won the festival’s annual Rising competition in 2020, but had to wait a year to play.


CHARLOTTE CHURCH’S


LATE NIGHT POP DUNGEON Is Charlotte Church’s Late Night Pop Dungeon the coolest thing a wealthy semi-retired celebrity could plausibly do with their time? If not, it is surely one of the jolliest. Church, one-time tween vocal sensation from Cardiff, took it upon herself to get back on the mic, but also assemble a large band of musos (including her other half) to back her with covers of iconic pop and rock songs. ‘Covers’ sells it rather short, though, as they’re generally refashioned into new genres and torn through, almost DJ mix- style and with commendable versatility. Everyone dresses up in glitter and sequins and suchlike and it has proved a nailed-on festival favourite in the last five years.


ARAB STRAP This will be Arab Strap’s first appearance


in Cardiff since 2005, although in terms of their time as a going concern it’s a relatively swift return to the city. The Scottish duo of Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton disbanded the following year after a decade of stark, confessional releases which progressed from odd, addictive lo-fi to more developed, string-bedecked arrangements. After a handful of gigs in the middle of last decade, Arab Strap’s reformation proper came in 2020, with comeback album As Days Get Dark released early this year to a healthy reception.


STELLA CHIWESHE At 75 years old the elder stateswoman of


this year’s Festival Of Voice programme, Stella Chiweshe has enjoyed a storied musical career – and, it’s a safe bet, with some stories to tell. She grew up in pre- independence Zimbabwe and learned to play the country’s national instrument, the mbira dzavadzimu, at a time when this was very much not done by women, and mbira playing was officially banned by the regime in any case. Post-independence, she eventually gained recognition for her abilities, going on to tour the world solo and with her band, Earthquake.


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