[short_description]

Neil Campbell - classical guitar

Anne Taft - soprano (Ghost Stories)

Shaun Taft - visuals (Ghost Stories)

 

Liverpool composer and multi-instrumentalist Neil Campbell's work traverses minimalism, progressive rock, world music & jazz. He has been called 'an outstanding guitarist whose originality of thought makes him far more than just another gifted purveyor of finger acrobatics.' by Classical Guitar Magazine and his work has been referred to by Tom Robinson, BBC 6 Music, as 'music of serious quality and distinction' .

 

Ghost Stories (2007) started life as a number of short sketches for classical guitar which Neil Campbell was interested in enhancing through the use of electronics in collaboration with electronic musician Michael Beiert. After working with wordless vocals on The Neil Campbell Collective's Particle Theory album (produced concurrently with Ghost Stories and involving soprano Anne Taft as a guest vocalist), Anne Taft was invited to sing on some of the Ghost Stories pieces. The various short movements were then developed into a coherent suite of music segued together by an electronic soundscape built by Michael Beiert using samples of Anne Taft's voice. 

 

Compositionally Ghost Stories draws on French impressionistic music such as Debussy and Satie, ambient music such as that of Harold Budd or Brian Eno, as well as some jazz (especially Pat Metheny) and progressive rock (particularly Steve Hackett). The music is delicate, shadowy, slow, atmospheric and elegiac. Performed along with the visuals, produced by Shaun Taft, the piece becomes a meditation on memories of people, spaces, emotions and objects.

 

In this performance Neil will perform an exciting uptempo opening set of original music for solo guitar in which he uses loops and delays to expand the scope of the solo classical guitar. In the second half of the concert he will be joined by soprano Anne Taft for a complete performance of Ghost Stories. 

 

"As I listen to this, I imagine grey clouds whirring by in stop-motion frenzy, or a vampire crying as the October sun rises. This is simply so romantic and resonant. A perfect album for quiet nights alone with the soul. "Ghost Stories" manages to be ambient, instrumental, and goth all rolled in one. Highly recommended."  - Gary Flanagan, Nightwaves 

 

"... a shimmering, atmospheric cluster of works with a ghostly theme ... Anne's soaring voice floats over the shards of arpeggios and layered electronics, on occasion warm and appealing, yet sometimes more ominous and foreboding in keeping with the spirit of the album. Eerie shapes and shadows are evoked until the presence of a spirit seems nigh. Superbly constructed." - Musician  

This event is taking place at - Grosvenor Museum, 27 Grosvenor Street, CH1 2DD.