Multispecies Sounds with JC Leisure at IC Visual Lab
Headfirst Editor's Pick

"Sell out warning! IC Visual Lab returns with another reliably curious evening of audio excavation. JC Leisure takes us on a historical deep dive through interspecies collaborations caught on record, including their own work with Atlantic grey seals and pedal steel + many other unlikely combinations of adaptable thumbs and flippers."

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A event on Today. The event starts at 18:30.


NOW SOLD OUT - Join us for a survey of musical projects created in collaboration with animals, spanning from the 1960s to the present day. Expect underwater recordings, archival Folkways releases, experimental psych, incidental birdsong, and everything in between.

The evening will be led by Liverpool-based composer JC Leisure. While staying in North Wales, he encountered a group of Atlantic grey seals. After several days of listening, he began recording their vocalisations. Returning to his Liverpool studio, he developed a system that translates human musical gestures - pitch, timbre and rhythm - into triggers for these recordings, enabling the seals to become active musical collaborators.

Later, in Berlin, he brought together a group of improvisers. In a single session - recorded in the back room of an instrument repair shop - they performed alongside the seals, moving fluidly from intimate duets to full human-seal ensembles. This session became his latest record, Low Tide, Hi Grypus!, released earlier this year on Antwerp-based Edições CN.

For this event, JC Leisure presents a curated journey through the history of human-animal collaboration in music. He will also share material from Low Tide, Hi Grypus!, offering insight into the ideas and processes behind its creation.

JC Leisure is a Liverpool-based composer. Previous works include A Courtyard! (Sun Ark, 2023), created using voice-activated, self-built electronics; Mutations For (Warm Winters Ltd, 2020), an exploration of pirate radio archives; and the radio play 4th Sided Mixtape (BBC Radio, 2022).

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TICKETS: we're offering a sliding scale from £6-8. If you are feeling financially secure, please pay £8. If you are not, please pay £6. All are welcome.



Entry requirements: no age restrictions

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