NL premiere

Described by NPR as an artist whose “greatest value is openness,” the British artist, poet, and multi-instrumentalist Alabaster DePlume weaves experimental and gentle pop music into a tapestry of emotionality, vitality, joy, and care. His avant-garde music, informed by jazz, punk, and indie, arrives like calm, warm lapping waves on the tumultuous shores of modern times. This calmness though is undercut with a political urgency. Choral arrangements and spoken word verses intermingle with orchestral and jazzy instrumentation, forming a kind of music that sounds and feels both communal and transparent. “This is what I’m really doing,” he says. “I want to talk about why I’m doing this, and how I’m doing this.” The honesty of his lyrics are complimented by wails from his saxophone, which – through its character and timbre – sounds itself like a different comforting voice. At Rewire, Alabaster DePlume performs music from his recent album, Come With Fierce Grace (2023).