Whatever The Weather (Loraine James)

Whatever The Weather is the quieter and more inward-looking alias and secondary project of London-based musician Loraine James. With a remarkable string of releases in barely half a decade, Loraine James has created a highly distinctive musical signature through a mixture of refined compositions, dark experiments and unpredictable, intricate electronic programming. Her releases include three LPs on the London cult label Hyperdub (including Burial, Flowdan, The Bug, aya, Babyfather, Lee Gamble).

On Whatever The Weather II, the second LP on Ghostly International and follow-up to Whatever The Weather, rich worlds of layered textures flow seamlessly from hypnotic ambience to dappled rhythms and collages of field recordings. James titled the tracks on Whatever The Weather according to her sense of «emotional temperature» at the time of recording, but notes that she often finds herself somewhere else on the thermometer when she hears them on other days or in other contexts.

Incidentally, James is playing at Dampfzentrale Bern on the very day Whatever The Weather II is released.

Eve Aboulkheir is a sound artist and composer from Paris. 
Her compositions, installations and performances focus on the creation of immersive, multi-sensory environments. In her installations, Aboulkheir plays with the sounds of the outside world, capturing them from the environment and using them as instruments. 
Her music has been released on Kraak Records and in the INA GRM Portrait series (alongside releases by Kali Malone, Laurel Halo and Jim O’Rourke).

Her work «Harmonic Pyro Voices» is a kind of “fire orchestra” consisting of glass containers of different shapes and sizes coated with flammable gel. Each container has its own resonant frequency and timbre. The mood of this alchemical instrument is directly influenced by its surroundings and the performers involved.

As part of a SHAPE+ residency at Dampfzentrale Bern, Eve Aboulkheir is working on an adapted version of “Harmonic Pyro Voices” with the two Bern-based musicians Annie Rüfenacht (Annie Aries) and Minami Saeki.

The Swiss-Filipino musician and composer Annie Aries operates in the world of modular synthesizers and patch cables, opening up a sound space between electronica and experimental sounds, between pop and club culture.

Minami Saeki is a sought-after vocalist in the Japanese improv scene, as well as a trained dancer and actress. She has already performed with Swiss improv musicians such as Christian Kobi and Tomas Korber before coming to Bern the year before last to study at the HKB. As a vocalist but also a composer, her music has been released on renowned labels for contemporary music such as Ftarri and Edition Wandelweiser.

Eve Aboulkheir is an artist of the SHAPE+ platform for innovative music and interdisciplinary art, co-funded by the European Union and Pro Helvetia.

SHAPE+ is co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.