News / / 14.04.14

The Bedroom: ‘The Graveyard of Ambition’ EP launch

Lewisham Arthouse | March 21st

Exploitation of all senses is an experience always welcomed at the launch of a new release; a combination that musician and visual artist Olan Stephens demonstrated with perfection. Stephens, aka The Bedroom, ensured his EP launch was unforgettable with an amalgamation of unique sound and set-up. 

The launch, held in the grand Lewisham Arthouse, set the tone for what the attendee would be experiencing for the night, with the rest of the building busy presenting exhibitions.

Michael Speers and Lugh, who along with Stephens are postgraduates and undergraduates respectively at Goldsmiths University, opened for The Bedroom. Each let their musical talent and education ooze from them with each noise and glitch they emitted.

Speers opened up with a set that shook the entirety of the art house where he held us hostage with an experimental mesh of haunting and exhilarating notes and noises. You had to remind yourself to breathe at points, and at the end of his set his hypnotic blanket was difficult to shake off. It was impressively overwhelming; totally spellbinding.

Lugh’s melodic set came as respite to the audience, including his well-received releases Lego and Dreamhouse. Lugh is blessed with the wonderful ability to manipulate melt-in-your-mouth female vocals, layering them to create a salient sensuality. He twists and turns the crowd’s shared experience through a sugar-coated, darkened cosmos.

With the visual delicacy of Stephens work tantalising the crowd prior to his performance, you know you’re in for a treat. Performing vocals, electronics and guitar, with the aforementioned Speers on drums, the pair project a phantasmagoria of erratic beats and melodies. Pop and math rock elements weave their way in and out of his set getting the crowd, Red Stripe in hand, bopping along to whichever beat they fancied. This style serves him well alongside his installations and flashing images from his first release Basquiat.  Bringing the audience through his new sounds, the shining moment for Stephens was the performance of the infectious Disconnect, an undoubted favourite from the EP we’re all here to welcome into the world.

The Bedroom brings his sensory overload to sets at The Twister Pepper, Dublin and The Roisin Dubh, Galway over the next week.

 

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facebook.com/thisisthebedroom

Words: Isis O’Regan

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