Bedroom Community

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Sam Amidon's (US) repertoire is made up of re-arranged American folk songs, a skill on which he proves himself to be a unique talent, drawing simultaneously on his experiences growing up a child of folk musicians in Vermont, and his more recent work in New York with the experimental indie-rock bands Doveman and Stars Like Fleas. From an early age Sam learned to sing and play the fiddle, later adding the guitar and banjo to his flock of instruments. Sam's critically acclaimed album All Is Well was released in 2007 and he is currently working on a new album set for an early 2010 release. full bio

Ben Frost (AU) burst into the spotlight with his breathtaking and critically acclaimed Theory of Machines album in 2007. Treading a fine line between composer, producer and sound artist, Ben Frost fully exploits the unique sonic resources at his disposal – blending visceral, minimal and haunting electro-acoustic fragments with more human, fragile elements. Ben's new album By the Throat will be released in October. full bio

Nico Muhly (US) quickly made a name for himself in classical music as well as across other musical genres after graduating from the Juilliard School with a degree in composition. He has amassed a highly impressive resumé including commissions from orchestras and opera houses around the world and arrangements work for Antony, Björk, Grizzly Bear, Rufus Wainwright and many more. He has worked extensively for Philip Glass as conductor and has scored several major films including the Oscar winning movie The Reader. Nico's two solo albums on Bedroom Community are Speaks Volumes and Mothertongue. full bio

Valgeir Sigurðsson (IS) has made a notable contribution to the music of an array of leading artists as producer and collaborator (Björk, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, CocoRosie, múm).  He made his mark as an artist with the release of his debut album Ekvílibríum to rave reviews in 2007, and is the owner and founder of the Bedroom Community label and Greenhouse Recording Studios. A restless collaborator, Valgeir is currently working on albums with Sam Amidon, The Magic Numbers and new Bedroom Community signing Daníel Bjarnason, as well as preparing his Dreamland film score for release. full bio

WHAT THE PRESS SAY

'(Sam Amidon & Nico Muhly) did not perform distinct sets, instead performing their own songs and their collaborations in overlapping clusters, working out the set list as they went along, casually swapping instruments, and behaving themselves with the camaraderie of equally brilliant siblings. Bostonist was prepared for mere laptoppery and sensitive warbling. We were delighted, then, by Amidon's jaunt down the aisle to "lope like a buzzard," and the unanticipated liveliness of everything. Muhly handled three sets of keys (piano, synthesizer, MacBook) while seeming to conduct violist Nadia Sirota with his rather articulate eyebrows. Shirley Collins is still alive, but Amidon channeled her ghost anyway. The show culminated in a epic rendition of Muhly's "The Only Tune," a three-part disassembly and refurbishment of a folk song about sororicide and fiddle-making. Echoing the murder that facilitated its construction, "the only tune that fiddle would play was 'oh the dreadful wind and rain"—singing this, Amidon's haunted vocals were caught and repeated in Reichesque loops. (It was the only tune this Bostonist's head would play for the rest of the week.)  - The Bostonist Magazine, US

(Valgeir Sigurðsson & Sam Amidon) “Bedroom Community, possibly the best label in the world right now” was my earnest declaration back in March after seeing Sam Amidon play for the first time. A few months earlier I’d put Valgeir Sigurðsson’s Ekvílibríum album on my best of 2007 list for Arthur magazine. Tonight’s event at Trinity Church confirmed that judgement with another great performance of songs from All Is Well by Sam, followed by a set from his Icelandic composer/producer colleague. Sam Amidon’s set this time lacked some of the stunning impact of the earlier gig but that’s only because the thrill of seeing him for the first time can’t be repeated. If anything the performances were better this time round, not least because there were more string players there to do justice to Nico Muhly’s marvellous arrangements; Little Satchel especially benefited. Valgeir Sigurðsson (who produced All Is Well) helped out in the background then Sam returned the favour for Valgeir’s set, including singing one of the songs from Ekvílibríum.  This easy swapping of roles is one of the things which makes Bedroom Community such a fascinating label; Valgeir produces, everyone plays on everyone else’s albums. All the people involved (Nico Muhly and Ben Frost make up the creative quartet) are highly distinctive and bring a considerable authority to their work.  Back in the late Seventies Robert Fripp was presciently declaring the age of the music dinosaurs over, saying “In the new world the characteristic unit will be small, highly  mobile, independent and intelligent.” Bedroom Community, its artists and its ethos, is precisely what he was talking about. We need more like them.' - Feuilleton, UK

(Ben Frost) 'At the foot of the amphitheatre - surrounded by speakers, a laptop, mixer and with a guitar on his stomach - stands a man dressed in black, full of loneliness, pain and longings. His shadow is cast on the big walls and looks like something from Nosferatu, as he, hunched over and concentrated, turns the knobs. But the Australian Ben Frost hasn't come to take, but to give. And he has a lot to give. He opened with the titlesong from this years "Theory of Machines". A song that on an album has an underplayed quiet raw strength, but live was transformed into a boiling fullblooded emotional register. The room was put to great use, not least when it came to spreading the sound, giving the impression that the pure sound was coming from the side-speakers and the guitar-noise from the speakers behind Frost. It's impressive to be able to take music from possibly this year's best album and make it even better live. For an electronic musician, Ben Frost has the rare gift to be able to capture the room and take the audience further' - 5/5 review, GAFFA Magazine, Denmark

(Sam Amidon) 'I thought this might have been a good gig and my it was, and then some. You know when you listen to some spectral folk singer and wonder to yourself whether an artist can do it alone or whether its all production. Sam Amidon proved not only can he do it alone but he can do it with panache and a captivating personality. He played Appalachian folk songs, Irish folk songs, wrapped his tunes around others like Tears for Fears ‘Head Over Heels’, R. Kelly (watch the video), screeched like a banshee mid-song startling everyone, did pushups mid-gig, played guitar, fiddle and banjo and told funny stories about his dreams/songs where he drank wine in the woods and floated atop snow dunes, hung out with conceptual artist Paul Simon and had auditory hallucinations where he re-imagined new Thelonious Monk material. He cast out demons in a strange incantation dance on stage, told us the last time he was in Mayo he slept in a football field and was generally awesome. His voice has a brittle, smooth, American twang it’s hard not to like. Brilliant, brilliant gig!'' - Nialler9, Ireland

(Nico Muhly) 'What else is left for me to say about Nico Muhly? His performance at ATP simply added further evidence to support my position that the man’s talents as both songwriter and arranger are immense. After a rapid solo exposition on piano, he was joined by a band which was to include his Bedroom Community labelmates Valgeir Sigurdsson and Sam Amidon, as well as the astonishing singer/trombonist Helgi Jonsson. During the long English/Icelandic operatic suite of Wonders, it was Jonsson’s astonishing declaimed vocals which had most of the crowd standing with jaws agape. The performance of “The Only Tune” which closed the set was quite probably the high point of the entire weekend, with Sam Amidon piecing together the fragments of a typically sinister old folk tune, aided by some unusual instrumentation including free banjo and amplified head-scratching. The song’s haunting closing refrain rang out unaccompanied at the end, and continues to ring out inside my head days later.' - Mapsadaisical, UK

(Valgeir Sigurðsson) 'The ease with which Valgeir Sigurðsson assimilates and manipulates both digital and acoustic instrumentation is a testament to his in-demand status (and it’s exemplified tenfold in tonight’s context) but there’s more at work here than pleasing aesthetics. These are beautiful songs and would be even if they were shorn of their tasteful studio wizardry. Wrapping us, cocoon like, in the glistening, amniotic slipstream of his aural candy floss as he darts between laptop, percussion and piano ably assisted by his band. Heck, it might have been freezing outside but tonight was all about musical warmth.'  - Fact Magazine, UK