Following on from their critically acclaimed debut, ‘The Orchid & The Wasp’, Sharkey and Sanders return with one hour of completely new music recorded live at the legendary Vortex Jazz Club in London during the summer of 2019.

Inspired by the writing of Mark Fisher and the imagery and philosophy of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, the album explores the idea of music as activism, a way of imagining and describing a vision of the future a million miles from today’s rising nationalism, plutocracy and neo-fascism.

This is utopian music that travels across borders, deep underground, in search of new connections and possibilities.

This is music that does not recognise convention, hierarchy or genre.

This is improvised music that only happened once and could only have been made now.

It occurred spontaneously and without discussion and is presented as it happened with no editing or additional content added.

Sanders’ percussion and Sharkey’s electronics connect, contrast and intertwine throughout the albums continuous 53-minute narrative structure, creating layers of sound and energy.

Sharkey’s set-up of guitar and electronics, played simultaneously, brings to mind the emotive expression of low-slung, psychedelic rock and jazz-fusion processed through an ultra-modern prism of cutting-edge electronic music heard on labels such as PAN and Orange Milk.

Their relationship throughout the music changes from quick-fire dialogue to simultaneous, multi-layered commentary.
At times Sharkey sets up scenarios for Sanders to explore, vast stages for the master percussionist to interact and engage with astonishing creativity.

‘I’ve wanted to work with Mark since first seeing him play at the Red Rose Club in Finsbury Park in 2007’, says Sharkey.
‘His musicality, intensity and sense of orchestration both with his instrument and as part of the ensemble just blew me away’.

‘I love this duo’, says Sanders.
‘I feel very free to play within any music language I feel like expressing in the moment, moving colours, textures and rhythms within Sharkey’s sound world.
It's like something I've wanted to do for ages/years but never got the right context to do it. Beautiful.’

‘This is a heavier record that ‘The Orchid and The Wasp’, says Sharkey
‘The energy of this performance pulled the music toward areas of deep sub bass, jarring, propulsive rhythm, immersive processing and saturation.
However, the set is bookended with moments of slow development and reflection that create an interesting and surprising overall structure’.

Chris Sharkey and Mark Sanders will perform at Punkt in Norway later this year.

#TECHNICAL NOTE#
Due to BC upload limits, this is a CD-quality 16 Bit digital download as opposed to 24 bit file.
Anyone wanting a 24 bit version should email sharkestra(at)gmail(dot)com after purchase and I'll send a personal link
~cs