Zeropunkt gig at Cleere’s in Kilkenny to celebrate new album
Zeropunkt will play at Cleere’s on June 27
Deepspace improv veterans Zeropunkt will play Cleere's on Saturday June 27, marking the Kilkenny launch of their new CD Starry Dynamo in the Machinery of Night.
It's a homecoming of sorts, as ZP bassist Damien Lennon is a product of the now near-mythical Kilkenny 80's/90's music scene that gave us The Crawl Babies, The Jerusalem Taxis, Kerbdog, Engine Alley and others.
The gig also represents a return to the venue where the album was recorded last year. Starry Dynamo in the Machinery of Night captures the fabled intimacy of Cleere's, and features the artful live production of local legend Dave Holland (of groups Good Tiger and Blue Ghost). According to bassist Lennon, "there was a perfect coming together", an intense mutual listening between group and live producer. "Davy felt like a member on the night ... like a freeform Dennis Bovell opening up sonic pathways which we happily probed."
So what can an audience expect? The band's music doesn't fit neat labels, and they are defiant about categories.
"People often lazily call it jazz purely because of our instruments. This is never jazz. This is free music. FIRE MUSIC. It doesn't need a category. It is what it is".
On the surface you can certainly hear the group's love for John and Alice Coltrane, Miles Davis, Pharaoh Sanders and Sun Ra. But in the deeper recesses echo-drenched moments recall a spaced out, stair collapse avant-dub. The world inside a grandfather clock. Fleeting notes of demo era no-wavers Suicide. Peyote Jesus and Mary Chains funneling "Cowboy in Sweden" through lysergic brass. An explosion. Who knows? The results are intense and immersive. "Doors get opened" the band say.
For this gig Zeropunkt are joined by scapeshifting experimentalist White Sage, the solo project from the prolific and eclectic Andy Walsh, for what promises to be anything but standard fare. Get those hinges greased, there's someone at the door.
Starry Dynamo in the Machinery of Night is their 16th album in 13 years.
Zeropunkt play at Cleere’s on June 27 at 8.30pm.
For more and to book tickets www.cleeres.com