For electronic music that can stimulate your mind and your body, you’d do well to go to the National tomorrow night and see electronic artist Bonobo perform.
Simon Green, who performs under the name Bonobo, is now touring for his new album Migration, which was released on January 13 of this year. Migration is a collection of songs that explores identity in today’s buzzing world, where the only thing consistent is change.
As an artist who has reached popular heights since the release of his debut album, Animal Magic, in 2000, Green is as good a voice as any to speak on the question of identity in an ever-changing environment. Having originally gained a solid fanbase in Brighton, England, Green’s tour for the 2013 album The Northern Borders ended up lasting for three years. It’s no surprise that Green has eventually come to ponder what makes you, you.
As per the Bonobo PR press release:
“[Migration] has become, perhaps, an album for our times. We live in a period of sometimes terrifying uncertainty, where all too often people are tempted to retreat into their own shuttered-off realities, or to seek easy answers in shouted slogans and false promises. Migration, on the other hand, is an embrace of uncertainty and contradiction, and most importantly of all, even though its scope is epic, it is full of conviction that small ideas, questions, doubts, and stories really matter.”
Migration features fellow artists Rhye, Nicole Miglis, Innov Gnawa and Nick Murphy, but Green told RVAMag his live show should re-incorporate some old favorites into the set.
Bonobo joins fellow electronic artists like Flying Lotus and Four Tet in creating electro-tunes aimed at an audience on a personal, intellectual level, with the added bonus of incorporating thoughtful instrumentation, natural sounds, and tribal elements into his work. His process is consistently organic, from collaborating with feature artists to live performances.
“There’s generally some sort of rapport [between myself and featured artists]…I’m more in it for the sake of making a good piece of music rather than collecting high-profile featured guests,” said Green. “The way we play the show, it’s very fluid… it morphs slowly over the days. What the tour looks like at the beginning and the end are usually different things.”
Audience members who attend the show at the National will have the chance to see opening act Chrome Sparks, as well as a live band performance by Bonobo. With ambient electronic grooves that break to dancefloor-worthy jams, the show will doubtlessly aim to be an exercise in both body and mind.
Doors are at 6:30 P.M. For more information, you can click here.
photo via danmedhurst
