Alison Cotton uses viola, voice, percussion, recorder, omnichord, shruti box and piano to create eerily arcane tapestries of supernatural beauty.
Alison crafts cathedral vault soundscapes soaring into a magical realm entirely of her own making, haunted by folk’s dark ancient spirit at the same time as providing a much needed time suspending antidote to tumultuous modern times.
Praised by The Wire, The Guardian, Mojo, Uncut, 6Music, BBC and the Quietus for both her albums and live performances, The Pawnbroker are bringing her back to Reading.
Her last album was The Guardian’s Folk Album of the Month, The Quietus’ Album of the Week and reached number 37 in its Albums of the Year along with Stewart Lee’s year end list.
Alison is currently working on her fourth album.
“An eerie, lost folk horror soundtrack glinting in the sunshine, Cotton’s pure English voice rising mysteriously around the violas and recorders.” The Guardian
https://theleftoutsides.bandcamp.com/album/the-girl-i-left-behind-me
The Pawnbroker are Ben Sandiford and Pete Brookes. They make anthemnal soundscapes using only piano, vocals and sound textures, and have performed live soundtracks to their own edits of the films Carnival Of Souls, Noe’s Seul Contre Tous, Tarkovsky’s Solaris and Lumet’s The Pawnbroker.
They have played shows with Nils Frahm, Oscar winning composer Dustin O Halloran, and Peter Broderick.
https://thepawnbroker.bandcamp.com/track/unanswered
Dom James is a Reading based musician currently focussing on minimal repetitive music as a salve for the woes of the modern world.
https://hardreturn.bandcamp.com/album/minimal-screwdriver-music
Doors: 8pm
Planned Stage times: Dom 8.30-9pm / Pawnbroker 9.15-9.45pm / Alison 10-11pm
Curfew: 11pm