Audio Foundation Records presents the second volume of their Improvisors Series, with the first of two digital releases created by Simon O’ Rorke & a range of collaborators for his 3 night performance residency at Audio Foundation in May 2023, with a myriad of local artists including the power noise trio ‘True Bliss Experience’, Vitamin-S alumni Paul Buckton, Darren Hannah and Ivan Mršić, guitarists Kat Tomacruz and Tashi Stewart, modular synth maverick Parks, and acoustic improvisors Francesca Parussini, Hermione Johnson, Alan D. Jones and Drummy.
Simon O’Rorke discovered improvised music while a student in London. After emigrating to New Zealand, from 1992 he formed free improv ensembles in Wellington, at a time when activity in the genre appeared to be almost non-existent in the city. Simon’s openness to collaboration and his singular approach to spontaneous music making influenced a generation of New Zealand improvisors, his playing sessions becoming somewhat a right of passage for younger musicians exploring free improvisation.
Since the improv scene took off in the 1990’s, O’Rorke has collaborated with many of New Zealand’s leading improvisors. Originally a bass guitarist, he has specialised in percussion since 1997 and then, from 2010, synthesisers and software instruments. O’Rorke has recently started to create software electronic works with a sequencing/composition application he is developing. Against the Tyranny of 4, the resulting work that has been published so far, can be found alongside collaborative improvisations at soundcloud.com/simonor.
AFR004 released October 20, 2023
Simon O’Rorke – Falcon software synth, virtual violin, marimba, celesta, toms, alto trombone, bass tuba, viola
Hermione Johnson – prepared piano
Paul Buckton – guitar
Tashi Stewart – guitar
Darren Hannah – double bass
Recorded by Matthew Gunn at Audio Foundation 12 May 2023
Kat Tomacruz – guitar
Francesca Parussini – tenor saxophone
Parks – analogue synthesizer
Ivan Mršić – amplified sink / objects
Jeff Henderson – small objects
Recorded by Jeff Henderson at Audio Foundation 13 May 2023
Mixed & mastered by Jeff Henderson