Harriet (vibraphone) and Alex (fiddle) formed a duo in 2018 after meeting through Live Music Now, a charity which provides live music for people in challenging circumstances who rarely get the opportunity to experience it. Harriet works with the charity performing with Spindle Ensemble and Alex likewise performing with The Drystones and Archie Churchill-Moss.
Their aim is to combine Alex’s traditionally influenced tune writing with Harriet’s expertise with the jazz idiom, incorporating improvisation and extended techniques to create a potent blend of sonic forces. The unusual pairing of fiddle and vibraphone combines a unique tonal pallet allowing for atmospheric and hypnotic moments to be starkly contrasted with vigorous dynamism.
The pieces themselves are all self-penned, starting out as fiddle melodies which are then harmonised and arranged together. Each tune is named after a word which does not translate into any other language such as Vellichor meaning the ‘strange wistfulness of used bookstores’ or Phosphenes meaning the ‘lights and colours produced when rubbing your eyes’.