London based DJ and writer Rosie Riot reviews the ‘electronic musicians’ electronic musician’ Richard Norris, as he collaborates with visual artist Innerstrings.
Electronic artist, musician, and songwriter Richard Norris performed an impressive live showcase on a very balmy June evening at Soho venue All Is Joy. The venue, once used by Warner Brothers as part of its headquarters, is now a warren of studios and screens, and provided a perfect creative haven for the event.
Staged against the backdrop of its main cinema screen, the performance space for the night was a live analogue sonic smorgasbord, teeming with synths and hardware. Behind it, in the refreshing cool of the cinema, was an impressive kaleidoscopic lightshow by Lewes-based visual artist Innerstrings, which traversed visual landscapes from sweeping psychedelia to outer space sci-fi.
Norris gave 909originals a bit of background on the collaboration, and the show: “Me and Chris [Tomsett aka Innerstrings] first collaborated in 2009 when we founded the Lewes Psychedelic Festival. I moved out of Lewes a while ago, but Chris carried on the festival to this day. We’ve collaborated on my solo shows for the last couple of years.
“The music was from my own albums, Elements and Hypnotic Response, and a lot of tracks were from my Oracle Sound series of dub EPs. Plus a version of The Grid’s Floatation at the end.”
The show was a sublime showcase of Norris’ live mastery, introducing layers of sound in perfect fusion – seamlessly transgressing from the golden dub of Oracle Sound to the otherworldly futurism of the Elements albums. Intermittent taps with illuminated drumsticks, appearing like lightsabers in the dark, added to the scene.
Innerstrings’ illuminated mandalas made way for a running figure through a spaceship, which worked well with the shimmer of the Hypnotic Response tracks. Ethereal vocals were peppered over an increasing tempo, culminating in Floatation, one of Richard’s most popular tracks as performed by The Grid – his previous electronic duo with Soft Cell’s David Ball.
The whole evening was immersive and completely captivating. Norris’ other repertoires of work include Beyond the Wizard’s Sleeve and the deep ambience of Music for Healing. Check out his Bandcamp here.
Words by Rosie Riot.
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