MODERN NATURE
Jack Cooper is a musician and composer based near Cambridge, UK.
He is primarily the leader of Modern Nature, a group that blurs the lines between folk music, modern composition and improvisation. Since 2019, alongside collaborators Jeff Tobias and Jim Wallis, they have released two critically acclaimed albums and a host of other material that includes an instrumental album, a short record called Annual and four cassettes of improvised music. Their next album No Fixed Point In Space is due in autumn 2023 on Bella Union Records.
His notated music has been performed by the UK based chamber group Apartment House, at Fouroneone in New York and recordings of his pieces Tributaries and Arrival were released on the U.S. label Astral Spirits. In 2024 the BBC Concert Orchestra commissioned a piece called ‘Triptych For Orchestra’ which was performed at the Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall.
Describing his work, Jack Cooper says “in all my work I provide a framework for musicians to interact within where no instrument or performer is more important than the other. All of the musical elements; the melody, the pulse, the dynamics and the narrative are the shared responsibility of the collective. I want to hear that magic in detail, so I lean towards slow and quiet music”
He was previously a member of the rock bands Mazes and Ultimate Painting and has worked as a touring musician for Andrew Savage (Parquet Courts) and The David Nance Group.
TRUST FUND
Trust Fund, the musical project of singer-songwriter Ellis Jones.
Fans of Jones’ delicate, funny, relatable songwriting will know that yes, it has been a while. His last album was released six years ago. The 2018 LP Bringing the Backline – which received praise from Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, The Guardian, and more – coincided with Jones calling time on Trust Fund, as band members began their own families, and he moved to Norway (and then on to Canada) to begin a career in academia. As he puts it: “I turned thirty, I moved away, and I thought, ‘I guess I don’t do that anymore’”.
His return reflects a realisation that his music-making days continue to stretch out before him, and marks the development of a mature style that offers both continuity and change. While previous Trust Fund albums have foregrounded a fuzzy, indie-rock aesthetic, on Has It Been A While? Jones strips his songs down to classical guitar and vocals, supported by captivating string quartet arrangements provided by Maria Grig. Trust Fund’s lyrical dexterity remains, and is showcased here on tracks such as The Mirror (a duet with Radiant Heart’s Celia MacDougall), whose vainglorious protagonist would gladly “use the mirror as TV”.
THE BALLET
Formed in 2005 by Greg Goldberg and Craig Willse, The Ballet marry wry poeticism with pop romanticism and a queer DIY ethos to create literate, infectious pop gems. The band self-released their first two albums: Mattachine! (2006) and Bear Life (2009). These records caught the attention of indie-label-legends Fortuna Pop!, who released their third album, I Blame Society, in 2013. After FortunaPop! closed shop, The Ballet partnered with Fika Recordings, who released their fourth album, the critically acclaimed Matchy Matchy, in 2019.
The Ballet have been joined by a few other musicians over the years including Ginger Brooks Takahashi and Michael O'Neill, who left in 2007 to join JD Sampson in MEN, as well as guest appearances on previous albums from Linton of The Aislers Set, Ramesh from Voxtrot, Scott Matthew, and Kaki King.
In addition to citing Stephin Merritt as a formative influence, Goldberg—who writes and home-records all of the band’s songs—draws from an array of pop artists and periods; from 60’s bubblegum to 80’s synthpop and 90’s indiepop, fusing these genres in sophisticated and novel ways.
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