The Swell Season

If you remember Ruaidhri Mannion’s previous band, Catoan, and in particular recall how they would punctuate their gigs with amped-up renditions of Chopin’s Nocturnes For Violin, the conceptual acrobatics of his new outfit, The Summer Experiment, will come as little surprise. Catoan made a great noise exploiting the tension between their big music/big barn potential, and the esoteric pull of their influences. What’s thrilling about TSE, however, is the reckless way they’ve binned the indie rock Sat Nav entirely.

If Catoan were a traditional band with an experimental edge, TSE are unapologetically left-field. Musically, this means smacking Warp-esque electronica against some expressive modern classical. In terms of approach, they’re having fun tearing up the rule-book.
As the name suggests, The Summer Experiment is a seasonal, and finite, endeavour, with a rolling line-up (although based around Ruaidhri and his former Catoan comrades, John Ferris and Cavan Fyans), and high-minded objectives. Writing and recording takes place between June and August, with gigs booked for the end of this month. But apart from that, it’s pretty much a case of making things up on the spot.
Which is understandable, when you consider that twelve months ago, while he was preparing to leave Belfast to study at the Royal College of Music in London, the whole enterprise was conceived by Ruaidhri as a last hurrah.
“Everything was changing and that’s where the immediacy came from,” he admits. “We had very little time and so we decided there would be no media, and no expectations except to write music and play some final gigs before we parted ways. Rough-cuts of songs, improvisations, rehearsal recordings... we just wanted the bare bones of what it’s like to play with other musicians and make something. I don’t think any of us really knew what we were doing it for, we just needed an outlet. And maybe we just loved our POD pedals a little too much! Besides the Summer is the perfect time for music... light in the evenings, energy, socialising, thinking. All great craic.”
As the project progressed, however, it became clear that it was taking on an interesting identity of its own.
“We got a lot more organised as we got closer to the end of August,” he reveals, “and we tried to make the best of the project. We only played a handful of gigs in Derry and Belfast and our last gig was in Auntie Annie’s. We were halfway through our first improvisation when we realised that there was this incredible silence coming from the audience. Maybe it was something about how we were fixating on each other’s sound to carry the piece forward, but the crowd seemed to go with us. After our set we were caught up with a bunch of people who were really taken by the music we had made.”
TSE are into artists as disparate as Arvo Part and Jean Sibelius, Aphex Twin and Nick Drake – but their rich, brooding sound has the shoulders to carry the weight of these influences.
“In this project we put everything we listen to on the table and look for different territories,” explains Ruairdhri. “We’re looking to bridge the gap between rock/electronica and contemporary classical/electro-acoustic music - bringing them all to the masses in non-classical venues where they can be appreciated by new audiences. That’s what we want.”
Last year’s success has emboldened all involved. And with the added input of Chris Green, a film composer Ruairdhri met last year in London, 2009 is proving to be every bit as productive as ‘08.
“We’d all learnt so much in the past year we wanted to share with each other. After last year’s success, we felt The Summer Experiment could grow as an interdisciplinary arts event. I found myself in London ranting about how exciting the NI music scene is, and evidently Chris agreed and wanted in.”
In fact, so creatively fruitful is The Summer Experiment proving to be, it’s hardly worth asking if it’s going to be a yearly occurrence. That’s a no-brainer. No, the question is – will there be a Christmas one?
“We’re aiming for annual installations following a similar format,” he says. “In a lot of ways we’re laying down the foundations for what we see as an event more than a ‘band’. We want to open up the collaborative possibilities between musicians from Ireland and further afield. Working with more composers/performers from London and introducing them to their counterparts in Ireland is such an exciting prospect and whatever we can do to add to that is worth it. I suppose the ‘Summer’ experiment is circumstantial considering our other commitments but we’ll make music whenever we can. Seasonal experiments might be on the cards.”