Billie Bottle’s Temple of Shibboleth: Plus Solarference

Event Description

Billie Bottle’s Temple of Shibboleth

The Temple of Shibboleth incorporates a scintillating blend of prog, jazz, and pop sensibilities, always with a sense of mythic ritual. With echoes of Gong, Canterbury and Henry Cow plus a pop approach to songwriting, the line-up features Billie Bottle on piano, guitar, bass and vocals (Caravan’s Dave Sinclair & Mike Westbrook bands), Viv Goodwin-Darke on flute and vocals (The Invisible Opera Company of Tibet/Magic Bus), Roz Harding on alto sax (Mike Westbrook bands), Anna Batson on bassoon and vocals (an engaging singer/songwriter in her own right) and much-in-demand drummer, Emma Holbrook.’

Borne out of lockdown necessity, The Temple of Shibboleth started life when Billie Bottle ran away from the circus in 2020 and started caring for a wise woman in Ottery St Mary, Devon. Here, she was taught the ancient art of traditional housekeeping, where each day of the week has a particular purpose and function: this became invaluable in navigating our seemingly eternal state of lockdown.

In their former incarnation, Billie Bottle & The Multiple, released their first album, Unrecorded Beam, in 2014 and their second, THE OTHER PLACE in 2021. The former was described by Robert Wyatt as “brilliant!”. “Cleverly refract rock, folk and jazz through a prism of Canterbury pastoralism” – Prog Magazine

SOLARFERENCE

Solarference singers and sound artists Nick Janaway & Sarah Owen perform a genre-defying mix of live electronics and traditional folk.

With voice and harmony at the heart of the music, Solarference meets audiences with intense live energy. Powerful, resonant songs come to life in epic and intimate sonic worlds.

Nick, based in Bristol, is a songwriter, producer, multi-instrumentalist, and sound designer. Sarah is a versatile vocalist from East Devon with a background in sonic art and composition. After a couple of years of peeling back the layers of electronics to explore a new collection of original & traditional songs, Solarference returns with a fresh approach to their homemade live sampling setup.

Solarference are diving back into their creative fascination with the human voice and live audio transformation. “Arresting, atmospheric and thrilling… Solarference are one of the most original acts playing English folk music.” – fRoots magazine “A crystallization of ancient and modern, as circuit boards sing with the art of storytelling…Totally intoxicating. May mornings will never feel quite the same again.” – SpiralEarth