ADHELM
YASAM ROSE
“Complex, experimental compositions of clattering percussion, strange field recordings and spectral electronics … Nothing is as expected and it’s all enthralling.” Electronic Sound
Yasam Rose' imagines a day-in-the-life of the vessel of the same name that works along the lesser known part of the Thames. The ship sits small and alone in the river it traverses, occasionally kissing the vast banks which stir with trade and gossip. Navigating murky and muscular currents, it surveys the bleak flat landscapes scarified by dense clusters of industry. From wider waters, where sea-faring ships sit so tall they dwarf even the 'Yasam Rose', it travels upriver where scatters of Wren’s London echo from the banks. A passage through rain thick with traces from a metropolis forgetting its bucolic past. 'Spek' explores East London’s once dense and thriving industry as it recedes into the Thames’ estuary. Still kinetic with trade, some areas lie defunct and dilapidated as nature strives to claim them back. 'Spek' is red with rust and spattered by the sludge of low tide. Wind-swept, battered and cold, the machine of industry fights on as nature howls, whirls and lashes against it.
I do not know much about gods; but I think that the river
Is a strong brown god—sullen, untamed and intractable,
Patient to some degree, at first recognised as a frontier;
Useful, untrustworthy, as a conveyor of commerce;
Then only a problem confronting the builder of bridges.
The problem once solved, the brown god is almost forgotten
By the dwellers in cities — ever, however, implacable.
Keeping his seasons and rages, destroyer, reminder
Of what men choose to forget. Unhonoured, unpropitiated
By worshippers of the machine, but waiting, watching and waiting.
-- T.S. Eliot / from The Dry Salvages (No. 3 of 'Four Quartets')
About Adhelm
Adhelm is the moniker of London-based artist, composer and music producer, Beni Giles.
On completing his postgraduate studies in composition at the Royal Academy of Music, he began to explore production as a means to compose. It soon became his life and, alongside his own work, he has produced records for artists such as Lianne La Havas, Otzeki and Oscar Jerome among others.
Fascinated by the natural world, much of his work is about nature, and its struggle with man. He can often be found in the outdoors collecting field recordings for use in his music. His process builds upon and utilises the methods and compositional philosophies of composers such as Edgar Varèse, Pierre Schaeffer, John Cage, Pauline Oliveros and Brian Eno.
He is a long-time collaborator with Gabriel Prokofiev’s Nonclassical label and his works have received performances with orchestras and ensembles across Europe. He was a Britten-Pears Young Artist and was shortlisted for the Britten Sinfonia OPUS award. Addelam, a collaborative project with cellist and composer, Colin Alexander, has received plays on BBC Radios 3 and 6 and been performed at Union Chapel and the ICA. They are currently making their second album.