Join string quintet Wooden Elephant and prepared piano specialist Mathias Halvorsen as they transform their instruments into drum machines and synthesisers for a totally new, acoustic experience of Aphex Twin’s epic double album masterpiece, ‘Drukqs’.

Following on from their collaboration with Moor Mother and Beethoven Orchestra Bonn, which saw them rework Moor Mother’s album Analog Fluids of Sonic Black Holes, Wooden Elephant join forces with experimental pianist Mathias Halvorsen for their most ambitious project to date: a sprawling, two-hour journey through the mind of one of the world’s most iconic and eclectic electronic artists, Richard James AKA Aphex Twin.

Drukqs will be presented in its entirety, in two halves reflecting the two discs of the original release. The first half will see Wooden Elephant and Halvorsen throwing themselves headfirst into the manic beats and screeching gear changes of Disc One, from the oppressive, darkly driving pulses of Gwely Mernans, to the cleansing purity of Avril 14th, to the euphoric beat-ridden climax of Mt Saint Michel + Saint Michaels Mount. The second half will see a complete mood change, as Wooden Elephant and Halvorsen strip away the beats of Disc Two and invite the audience to embark upon a meditative reflection through some of Aphex Twin’s most intimate writing.

As in all Wooden Elephant concerts, you will be confronted by an array of weird and wonderful objects on stage, all carefully chosen to help transform electronic sounds onto acoustic instruments. Singing bowls, vibrators, a glass lampshade, Ebows, bathroom sink plug chains, paintbrushes, and door springs are just some of the extra equipment being used to bring the music of Aphex Twin to the concert hall.

Please note this event may contain strong language.

This event will last approximately 1 hour 45 minutes, including an interval.

Reviews

‘an extraordinarily inventive and imaginative reinterpretation, an aural tour de force’ Oliver Condy, Official Apple Music review of LANDSCAPES, KNIVES & GLUE — Radiohead’s Kid A Recycled 

‘wonderfully inventive and gloriously off the wall… nothing short of spectacular’ Robert Hugill, composer and journalist