Max de Wardener

Composer, arranger, producer and multi-instrumentalist Max de Wardener is an arch-experimentalist whose work weaves an atmospheric tapestry of gentle oratorio, tonal grandeur and shimmering, cut-up electronics. An explorer in the worlds of contemporary composition, instrument making, electronica and sonic art, Max's work can be heard in a variety of fields covering live performance, recorded music, sound design and film and television.

Classically trained, Max studied music at York University then completed post-graduate studies in jazz and studio music at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. He has worked as a composer and bass player in a variety of musical environments and has enduring associations with innovative musicians such as Matthew Herbert, Chartwell Dutiro (formerly of Thomas Mapfumo and Blacks Unlimited), UK trumpet rising star Tom Arthurs, the F-IRE Collective and fellow Accidental label-mates Dani Siciliano and Mara Carlyle.

In 1999 Max started writing music for film and TV and his output and continued success in this area includes the BAFTA Award winning feature film Last Resort (Dir: Pawel Pawlikowski, 2000); Edinburgh Film Festival Michael Powell Award winning Gas Attack (Dir: Kenneth Glenaan, 2001); Directors' Guild of Great Britain (DGGB) Award winner Comfortably Numb (Dir: Leo Regan, 2004); DNA - the Emmy Award winning five-part documentary on the history of DNA for Channel 4/PBS (Dir: David Glover, 2004); Secret Life - the Channel 4 drama starring Matthew Macfadyen (Dir: Rowan Joffe, 2007); The Doctor who Hears Voices (Dir: Leo Regan, 2008) and most recently a feature documentary about a unique punk band called Heavy Load (Dir: Jerry Rothwell, 2008), which won the audience award at BritDoc 2008 and will be on general release from the autumn of 2008.

Since 2002 Max has been releasing his own music in association with Matthew Herbert's Accidental label. He released a 12" of church organ music entitled Stops (2003) and Where I Am Today (2004), an electronic album that relies more on actual musicianship than recording techniques. With this album, recorders and organs rub shoulders with Harry Partch's cloud-chamber bowls, transistors and the sound of wires creating a clear-cut experimental agenda that has managed to remain beautiful and emotive.

Both of these releases allowed Max to explore his interest in diverse and contrasting instrumentation and allowed him to shift towards performing his own music in a live setting. He has played at the Stavanger Nu Music Festival in Norway, Sonar Festivals in Barcelona and Hamburg and has also performed at festivals in Scotland, France and Japan. London appearances include concerts at the Queen Elizabeth Hall and Islington's Union Chapel, where his acoustic arranged 'electronic' music was the highlight of the 'Accidental Powercut' performance.

In 2005 Max was selected to participate in 'Take Five', the artist development initiative for emerging jazz musicians supported by the Jerwood Charitable Foundation and the PRS Foundation for New Music and this has led to a renewed association with Tony Myatt, Director of the Music Research Centre at York University. This relationship became the key to the realisation of many of Max's compositional ideas and their research led to new ways of specifically controlling live amplification, which in turn led to repertoire for the specially formed Max de Wardener Group. They were subsequently part of a 2006 CMN tour and also performed live in the spectacular setting of the National Portrait Gallery - where Max was one of four composers commissioned to create a new work to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the NPG.

Recent and forthcoming projects include the creation of repertoire for a new album, a remix for Danish post-pop group Efterklang, an ongoing collaboration with the London-based string ensemble Elysian Quartet, an arrangement of his work Minutia for Australian recorder virtuoso Genevieve Lacey (Weaver of Fictions for ABC Classics), the release of Nuzzle - Mara Carlyle's album which includes Max's orchestrations for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Classist, an EP featuring new works for string quartet released on Stanley Donwood's (Radiohead) Six Inch Records. Max is also involved in a site-specific event called 'Ousia' with Herald Angel winner Darren Johnston (Ren-sa) and Flat-e which is scheduled to premiere in Edinburgh in 2009.

Click here to read more about Max de Wardener.
www.serious.org.uk

"It was ... Max de Wardener who made the night one to remember. An English composer and multi-instrumentalist, de Wardener and his group were ... understated, unpredictable and engaging. With de Wardener on bass and various other instruments (most noticeably Partch- inspired suspended tuned glass bowls), this group comprised drums, flute, saxophone, tuba and electronics. Their set sauntered seductively through progressive, jazzy freakouts to helplessly charming instrumental ambience, with clicks, tics and meandering drones spat out in beguilingly complex arrangements. Evoking Takemitsu, microsound improvisors and post-rock, the group is not without its influences, but strong material and musicianship helped create a sound very much the musicians' own. While Tom Skinner was particularly commanding, de Wardener and his whole troupe put on a wonderful performance." The Classical Source

"Many a producer has been said to have pulled out all the stops in production but the metaphor rarely hits home." The Wire

"Really gorgeous recordings for a huge church organ combined with clinky, cut-up electronic rhythms. Nary a cliché in sight." Matmos

"Despite the clearcut experimental agenda, all four tracks ... convey immensely strong emotions with deepest possible impact." Tigersushi

"A relatively short album carries an overwhelming amount of seriously beautiful music...words barely do justice to how essential this album is." Boomkat

"Where I Am Today functions as a celebration of the intimate moments that create a life. What separates de Wardener from the host of musicians making delicate electro-acoustic music today is that he progresses out of that childhood with a sound that is versatile and unique." Stylus Magazine