HYPE UP #3: Joe Snape - Joyrobix

Joe Snape Portrait, by Leonie Brandner

UKYA is super happy to share exciting news from two of our Alumni; Joe Snape and Leonie Brandner, who are embarking on a UK tour with Joe’s new release Joyrobix, alongside ten one-shot films made by Leonie. They met at UKYA Leicester Festival 2014 and have been collaborating ever since.

We caught up with Joe to find out what he’s been up to since UKYA…

“Apart from working on this record [Joyrobix], I’ve been making pieces in two radically different, but also complimentary streams. On the one hand I’ve been making these intimate, pseudo-intellectual one-man performances with video, music, and spoken word - one of these is an absurdist documentary lecture that kind of feels like the lovechild of an NPR podcast and a TED talk. It’s called Who is Raymond? and it’s about immigration, immortality, and the American South. On the other hand, I recently made a piece for a huge orchestra in Germany. It was a crazy commission by an amazing group called the Junge Norddeutsche Philharmonie, and the brief was to make a new version of Stravinsky’s Petrushka to be performed alongside the original. The result was a half-hour riot of bonkers fragments ripped and warped from the original, melted into the kind of plinky-plonky melodies and processed voices that I like so much. We just toured it in some beautiful concert halls in Poland and Germany, and we have a few more dates of it coming up in the summer. You can find out more about all these things at http://joesna.pe. Also, drop me a line while you’re there! I’d love to hear from other UKYA-ers.”

So tell us about Joyrobix, what can we expect from the tour?

“Joyrobix is the follow-up to a record I put out called Brittle Love just after the Leicester UKYA, in early 2015. It’s hard to believe it’s taken 4 years to make! I’d planned initially to have it finished by the end of 2016: it was supposed to just be a straightforward documentation of chamber pieces written for a few ensembles and friends. Instead, it got totally delayed and became this heavy, detailed piece of work that captures some of my experiences over the last few years living in America (I’m studying there). If Brittle Love was a suite of songs that started with heartbreak and moved towards something brighter, then Joyrobix kind of goes in the opposite direction: it begins bright-eyed and optimistically, and gradually collapses in on itself over the course of 30 minutes. It’s pretty sad! But still also romantic and silly, and with a lot of brightly-coloured melodies and novelty sounds. There’s always room for novelty sounds. For the live show, I’m playing with a crack trio - Louise Snape (sister & bezzie) on trumpet, vocals & multipercussion, and Jethro Cooke (other bezzie) on electric guitar, effects, and drum machine.”

And you’ve collaborated with a fellow UKYA Alumni?

“Yes - we play to ten one-shot films made by another UKYA-er, the Swiss artist Leonie Brandner, and these are particularly awesome. They’re these odd little scenes that range from men in speedos rubbing themselves with grapefruits to a community dance piece with firework special FX, all shot over the course of a week in a warehouse in east Berlin. And as if everything I’m promising here wasn’t already reason to show up to a gig, our touring partners Laurie Tompkins and Suze Whaites are premiering a new set that they’ve trialled at some really cool places all over the world. My expectations are high...”

Ours too - sounds amazing!

Whet your taste buds with a a preview in this film, and check out tour dates below!

UK tour — April 9th-19th

Joe Snape hits the road, with an AV performance of 'Joyrobix', his forthcoming Slip LP, made in collaboration with Leonie Brander. Slip co-founders Laurie & Suze join him, with local slots from MICHAELBRAILEY, Teresa Winter, Maya Verlaak, Blood Stereo, O YAMA O, Orxid, and Wild Pop.

9th Manchester - Soup Kitchen (with VIRTUALLYREALITY)
10th Bradford - FUSE Art Space
11th Birmingham - Vivid Projects
13th Brighton - The Rose Hill
17th London - Stour Space (with Thirty Three Thirty Three)
18th Bristol - Cafe Kino
19th Newcastle - The Star & Shadow Cinema (with Wild Pop)

'Joyrobix' [SLP047] is available on vinyl LP and download from 4th April 2019. Mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi. Artwork by Suze Whaites. Distributed by Boomkat.

Who is Raymond? at Wonder Inn, Manchester (Photo: Ruta Vitkauskaite)