An enveloping new record from cellist Kate Ellis and composer Ed Bennett is coming our way on October 3, Irish label Ergodos announced this morning. The album, titled Strange Waves, will feature six parts, blending music for eight cellos with field recordings made on the coast of County Down and on Ireland’s northernmost island, Rathlin.

To mark the album launch, Ellis and Bennett offer a live performance of Strange Waves in Café OTO, London, on October 3, 2023.

Speaking about the evolution of this project, the cellist, Kate Ellis, said: “This record began with an email in my inbox from Ed early in 2020 saying: 'I'm dabbling with a piece at the moment for eight multi tracked cellos... I’m thinking quite big, and it could be record in itself with multiple movements...'

Kate Ellis - Photography by Ros Kavanagh

"Ed sent a first draft of the score in June of 2020. The music he had created was immensely beautiful and resonated strongly with the strange sense of calm and slowing of time that I was experiencing and so began the recording of ideas between lockdowns. The final recording of the piece took place between May and June of this year at home in Crumlin, Dublin.”

Strange Waves can be performed by a soloist with seven pre-recorded parts or as a live octet. On this recording all eight parts are performed with extraordinary poise and precision by Kate Ellis - an extaordinary feat of instrumentalism.

Ed Bennett - Photography by Rachel McCarthy

“Growing up by the Irish sea, the sound of waves has been ever present in my life and in recent years has found its way into the music," composer Ed Bennett said, on the inspiration for this work. "At first, I didn’t notice this, but as I started to hear overlapping textures and loops in my work, I realised that there was something about this seemingly endless quality I was seeking.”

Strange Waves is available to pre-order here and will be released on October 3, 2023.