EX-EASTER ISLAND HEAD
Ex-Easter Island Head are a UK-based experimental musical collective composing and performing music for solid body electric guitar, percussion and other instruments. The group plays multiple electric guitars augmented through mechanical preparations and extended techniques, creating hypnotic performances rich in repetition, shimmering drones and melodic invention through purposefully limited means.
Their records and live performances have received significant critical acclaim from the likes of The Wire, the Quietus and the New York Times. Favourably compared to the likes of Steve Reich, Glenn Branca and John Cage, the groups’ music has been praised for its mixture of percussive drive, emotional warmth and playful experimentation.
They have performed worldwide in venues ranging from the tiny Scottish island of Iona to a 150-year-old brewery in Berlin, with major festival appearances including ATP, Supersonic and Le Guess Who? Collaborators have included the BBC Philharmonic, composer Arnold Dreyblatt and musicians Laura Cannell, Charles Hayward and Andre Bosman in the group Whistling Arrow.
Their library music releases Mechanical Landscapes 1 & 2 released by EMI/KPM have seen the group’s work used internationally for television and radio productions, whilst the groups’ own Large Electric Ensemble projects have seen the core quartet joining forces with forward-thinking musicians to make ambitious large scale performances across the UK and EU.
The group’s latest album Norther (2024) was named album of the year by Europe’s leading independent culture website, The Quietus. An interview in the same year for The Guardian described their music as “amongst the boldest experiments in British music”.
https://exeasterislandhead.bandcamp.com/
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“Amongst the boldest experiments in British music”
– The Guardian
“Everything grows organically, as if guided by something higher than the four musicians who stand onstage. Rarely do urgency and beauty come quite so tightly intertwined.”
– The Quietus, #1 Album of the Year 2024
“Churning pulses, alternate tunings
and dense harmonic worlds…
all the strings being heard at once”
– The New York Times
“Repetition and rumbling resonances
bringing to mind Rhys Chatham’s seminal works
with tone and John Cage’s rhythmic sensibilities”
– Pitchfork
“A three chord punk mission statement
turned into a neo-classical manifesto”
– The Wire