Bex Burch heads out on UK tour with guests Laurel S. Pardue and Rachel Musson

Renowned for her mix of hypnotic rhythms and unique percussive sounds from her hand-made Gyil, the now Berlin-based Bex Burch will head out on a series of gigs this March and April. Learning how to hand-carve her wooden Gyil after spending three years in Ghana, Burch spent 18-months from 2008 in an instrument-making apprenticeship with master gyil player Thomas Sekgura. This formative experience gave her a deep-seated respect for the powerful Dagaare music as well as the confidence to pursue a path that reflected her own voice and the myriad strands and tastes of her personality.

Developing her music Bex won wide acclaim for her post-punk jazz-influenced trio Vula Viel, with bassist Ruth Goller and drummer Jim Hart. This band morphed into Burch’s experimental electro-acoustic duo Boing! with former Polar Bear electronics maestro Leafcutter John, and the Strut-released band Flock, a cosmic, boundary pushing quintet with Tamar Osborn, Sarathy Korwar, Al MacSween and Danalogue.

Bex’s solo album There is only love and fear was the first release to spring from the ongoing practice of asking herself “what sounds do I like today?” and was recorded over thirty-two days of improvised sessions in the US with some of International Anthem’s finest musicians. Now Berlin-based, Burch was invited to spend time in the US by International Anthem Records to meet and make music with like-minded musicians from their Chicago-based network. As Tony Benjamin wrote in Jazzwise upon the album’s release: “There Is Only Love And Fear is the impressive result of an apparent myriad of spontaneous collaborations whose diversity distils into a coherent sound portrait of Burch herself”.

Rachel Musson joins Bex and Laurel for a one off double bill at the unque barn-cum-studio space Rattle and Brash in Stroud. Musson was among ten recipients of the 2024 Paul Hamlyn Award which saw the 30th anniversary of the Awards for Artists mark an increase in the award from £60,000 to £75,000 each, reflecting the Foundation’s strong belief in the value of artists and their vital contribution to society. Mussson, now based in Stroud, is a widely acclaimed and adventurous player/composer, she is involved in a variety of free improvisation projects. More recently, as can be heard on her 2024 album, Ashes and Dust, Earth and Sky, LLudw a Llwch, Daear a Nef, she has introduced composed elements to her work, drawing on text, field recordings and processing sounds.

Dates are:  Qub, Belfast (5 March at 1pm); Accidental Theatre, Belfast, (w Laurel S. Pardue, 6 March); Slope, London (w Laurel S. Pardue, 7 March);  Hundred Years Gallery, London, (w Laurel S. Pardue, 8 March); Rattle And Brash, Stroud, Gloucestershire (w Laurel S. Pardue plus Rachel Musson, 11 March);  Caper, Oxford (12 March, 12noon) and Flock @ Village Underground, Brick Lane Jazz Festival, London (27 April).

For more info and tickets visit bexburch.com/live/