Bedroom Community

Bedroom Community proudly presents a very special double-bill at Gamla Bíó on December 3; Ben Frost and Valgeir Sigurðsson live, both premiering their new visual sets. This momentous occasion will celebrate the release of their most recent albums, Valgeir’s Dissonance and Ben’s The Centre Cannot Hold,. This concert will be each artist’s first solo concert in Iceland in many years, and the first Bedroom Community event on the home turf since the label’s 10th anniversary Whale Watching Tour with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra in 2016. Special supporting guests TBA. TICKETS Facebook

Photo © Caroline Vandekerckhove via Dimly Lit Stages A beautiful shot of Sam Amidon at his recent Brussels show. Grab your own copy of Sams work via his Bandcamp

“ If there were to be some grand statement of what the two are capable of, then the Viola Concerto is certainly it. Sirota’s playing is precise and energetic, stepping up to the hefty demands of the piece gamely. No mean feat: Muhly’s writing flits between gruelling double-stopped passages, frenetic shredding, and more lyrical lines with feverish intent.” Sam Cleeve 6th October 2016  https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/reviews/albums/nico-muhly-and-nadia-sirota-keep-in-touch

“Though originally intended as a soundtrack, it does stand alone as a work to be admired in itself – the sublimes flourishes of miserable beauty and impeccable trembling minimalist strings are a classic romance. 'Big Reveal' crackles like an macabre bonfire; ratatat percussion pops and gyrates, providing a kin aesthetic backdrop for the suspenseful strings, squeaking and fading over a drone of morbid bass notes.” By Larry Day 21st September 2012 http://www.beardedmagazine.com/albums/article/valgeir-sigursson-architecture-of-loss-bedroom-community

“Architecture Of Loss. With an album title like that, Valgeir Sigurðsson immediately paints a picture of raw heartache, cold distress and practiced grief. In addition, the credits reveal that the music was originally composed for the same-titled ballet by Stephen Petronio, so it retains that cinematic feel, evoking strong visual imagery. The acoustic instrumentation is incredibly personal, intimate and close. The scratching strings, the rasping percussion, the moaning electronics – all make up an arsenal of hand-picked medium carefully selected for the score.” 18th December 2012 https://reviews.headphonecommute.com/2012/12/18/valgeir-sigurdsson-architecture-of-loss-bedroom-community/

“ Let me say straight away that this is an absolutely beautifully crafted and perfectly realized album. An album that I cannot stop playing and yet so brilliant it is that the more you listen to it (and believe me I’ve listened a lot!) the more it reveals itself to you and the more you are transported to a real, yet imaginary place.” JEZ COLLINS 6th December 2012 http://www.popmatters.com/review/165534-valgeir-sigursson-architecture-of-loss/

Nico Muhly Cover photograph by Michael Schmelling https://nicomuhly.bandcamp.com/album/mothertongue

“ But it's Valgeir's production work that's the true star of the show, and provides the connective tissue between the instrumental and lyrical pieces (which alternate for most of the album). Stately, subtle, and uniquely his, each track features a sampling of the studio master's trademark flourishes. The beats, which are somehow both delicate and urgent, are inimitable. The vocals are treated with sparse effects which integrate them seamlessly with the instruments, rather than distract from them.” Koye Berry 7th October 2007 http://www.beatbots.com/view.php?audio=117

“ [I love] super short movements and really compact ideas, and [a kind of] Webern, early Schoenberg approach. Almost like a haiku, you know; it’s so understated, so short that it’s there and you see it and it leaves a lot of space around it, but it doesn’t get followed up and followed through. And at the opposite end, sometimes [the movements] end up actually much longer than I originally intend them to be.” DANIEL KUSHNER  11th October 2013 https://www.icareifyoulisten.com/2013/10/5-questions-to-daniel-bjarnason-composer/

“One of the first things I did was put a microphone really super close to Nadia's instrument and asked her to play all the wrong sounds on it. For someone who was at Juilliard for years and trained to get all these nuances and nasty things out of the instrument, I think it was something of an unexpected challenge” Lily Troia 12th March 2013 http://www.citypages.com/music/icelandic-producer-valgeir-sigursson-its-hard-to-justify-just-working-for-myself-6627322

“Processions” is an entirely different beast, forming the bulk of the album and perhaps the album’s most powerful moments. The first movement, aptly titled “In Medias Res”, or “into the middle things”, begins abruptly with a huge bow strike and a glissando on the piano. Immediately, the main piano theme is introduced with dissonant trumpet and horn chords hitting the downbeats for a grandiose effect. Tyler Fisher 29th April 2010 http://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/36532/Daniel-Bjarnason-Processions/

“ Even when the pace seems to drop – as on ‘Bow To String’s second movement ‘Blood To Bones’ – it still feels like you’re hiding in an abandoned house, aware that there’s no real escape from what’s roaming outside; sweat prickling as the pitch of the cello now becomes unbearably tense, plucked strings sounding like ominous approaching footfalls.” Paul Clarke 31st March 2010 http://drownedinsound.com/releases/15260/reviews/4139564

“ When considering this album’s tendency toward beautiful chaos, it is important to remember the label that released it. Bedroom Community, owned by Icelandic übergenius Valgeir Sigurðsson, releases artists who do similar work that makes listeners define and redefine their ideas of classical music. Nico Muhly and Ben Frost are two other artists found on this label, and both share Bjarnason’s sense of flawed, beautiful drama.” ERIN LYNDAL MARTIN 17th February 2010 http://www.popmatters.com/review/120041-daniel-bjarnason-processions/

“ There’s a thousand considerations at once, building into a swell of panic. The inner film that ‘Emergence’ conjures is both very real and quite alarming if you allow it in, like a slightly uneasy ride on LSD. You’re kind of expecting your boat to smash against the sky-painted wall when it climaxes after 15 minutes.” 8th November 2013 Alex Lee Thomson November http://drownedinsound.com/releases/17876/reviews/4147098