15/09/2007

MIKHAIL : ORPHICA

party + live performance

E:vent celebrates the recent launch of Mikhail's debut solo album Orphica

Saturday 15th September, from 8pm

“spellbinding musical journey” Le Monde (Fr)
"dramatic, fitful, exuberant musical language" Art Monthly (UK)
"other-worldly" Orkus (Germany)

Orphica draws inspiration from the legendary singer Orpheus whose music had miraculous powers. In a journey tracing Orpheus’s steps to the Underworld, his encounter with entranced Maenads and his voyage with the Argonauts, Mikhail traveled to Greece to collect sounds for his debut album. Choirs chant alongside distorted static, sequenced recordings of creaking insects and bats flying in caves of Mount Olympus. Beats made from thrashing knives, smashing plates and electronics slice through the sounds of harps, harpsichords and the Ionian sea. In the midst of this, Mikhail's expressive voice reaches out for its limits with the determination of a futurist.

Received with wide international critical acclaim and described as 'primitive and futuristic' Orphica is an exuberant melding of electronica, pop, Greek folk and avant-garde music, and a musical experiment which attempts to channel the raw energy and lyricism of folk song while pursuing musical innovation.