Simon Bookish Explained

Simon Bookish
Background:solo_singer
Birth Name:Leo Chadburn
Birth Place:Coalville, United Kingdom
Genre:classical, art rock, electronic music
Occupations:vocalist, composer, producer, recording artist
Label:Tomlab
Website:www.simonbookish.com

Simon Bookish is the stage name of Leo Chadburn,[1] [2] a British musician and composer known for his work in experimental, electronic, pop, and classical music. His music has been broadcast on BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 6 Music,[3] and Resonance FM.[4] Originally from Coalville, Leicestershire,[5] he moved to London and trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama from 1997 to 2001.[6]

Work as Simon Bookish

To date, Chadburn has released three solo albums under the name Simon Bookish. The first two, Unfair/Funfair (2006) and Trainwreck/Raincheck (2007), combined his voice with synthesizers and laptop computers. His use of spoken word on Trainwreck/Raincheck and in live performances drew comparisons with "Bowie and Baudrillard, Burroughs and Byrne".[7] His third album, Everything/Everything (2008) featured an ensemble of brass instruments, saxophones, Farfisa organ, piano, and harp. Chadburn describes this album as "a big band song cycle about science and information".[8] [9]

Chadburn's most recent release as Simon Bookish was Red and Blue EP (2015), an experimental piece based on correspondence between Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan.[10]

He has provided remixes of songs for bands and artists such as Grizzly Bear, Franz Ferdinand, The Organ, Owen Pallett, Seb Rochford, and Late of the Pier.[11] He has also contributed tracks to the compilation albums Worried Noodles (2007),[12] a compilation of songs with lyrics by artist David Shrigley,[13] and The Wall Re-built! (2010), which celebrated the 30th anniversary of Pink Floyd's The Wall, for Mojo Magazine.[14]

Work as Leo Chadburn

Classical works

Chadburn has written a number of works for classical music groups. These include Unison: Things Are Getting Worse for a large ensemble of pianists,[15] X Chairman Maos, written for the ensemble Apartment House and performed at the De La Warr Pavilion to coincide with their Andy Warhol exhibition in 2011,[16] and Five Loops for the Bathyscaphe (2018), commissioned by the Britten Sinfonia.[17]

His string quartet, The Indistinguishables was written for the Canadian quartet Quatuor Bozzini and performed at the 2014 Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival.[18] A performance by the quartet at Milton Court (Guildhall School of Music) in March 2019 with Gemma Saunders as narrator was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in September 2019.[19] His piece for chamber ensemble, Freezywater, commissioned by the Wigmore Hall, won a 2016 British Composer Award.[20] Chadburn was nominated for a second British Composer Award the following year, for his choral piece Affix Stamp Here,[21] written for the vocal ensemble EXAUDI.[22]

Chadburn is currently an associate composer of the London Symphony Orchestra,[23] who performed his piece Brown Leather Sofa in 2013.[24]

Albums (as Leo Chadburn)

Chadburn has released two albums under his own name, Epigram / Microgram (2013),[25] an instrumental album which utilises the Casio CZ-101 synthesizer as its only sound source, and The Subject / The Object (2020), which comprises two 20-minute long tracks of spoken word stream of consciousness and drone music.[26]

Collaborations

Chadburn has collaborated on a number of projects with visual artists.[27] In 2009, he wrote the score for Richard Grayson's video installation The Golden Space City of God (exhibited at Matt's Gallery, London and Artpace, San Antonio), which featured a choir shot on location in Texas singing cult religious texts.[28] [29]

In 2012, he collaborated with the artist Tanya Axford on a piece entitled The Path Made by a Boat in Sound (Three Down) for the Whitstable Biennale,[30] and with video artist Jennet Thomas, on her work School of Change, a "sci-fi musical film", again exhibited at Matt's Gallery.[31]

He went on to work with the conceptual artist Cerith Wyn Evans on a choral work for performance at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in 2013, based on Samuel Beckett's prose text Imagination Dead Imagine.[32]

Chadburn has also written music for the theatre, working with the Royal National Theatre on a new musical score for their 2007 production of The Caucasian Chalk Circle, in which he also played the part of "The Singer".[33]

As a performer, he has contributed to the albums of Leafcutter John, Max de Wardener, Patrick Wolf, Serafina Steer and Saint Etienne, credited with recorders, bass clarinet and vocals.[34] He is also credited as a producer on classical percussionist Joby Burgess' album 24 Lies Per Second (2013).[35]

He has occasionally performed works by other experimental composers, including John Cage,[36] Gavin Bryars,[37] Christopher Fox,[38] Frederic Rzewski (whose piece Coming Together he presented at the first London Contemporary Music Festival in 2013)[39] and Jennifer Walshe (whose work he performed at the 2017 London Contemporary Music Festival).[40] Alongside actor Gemma Saunders, Chadburn recorded a spoken word version of artist On Kawara's twenty volume book, One Million Years [Past and Future], which was released as a limited edition four CD set.[41]

Writing and curation

In addition to his work as a musician, Chadburn has written reviews and articles about classical and pop music for The Quietus, Frieze, the New Statesman, and The Wire.[42] He is the curator of the public concert series and the Summer festival at City, University of London.[43]

Discography

Albums as Simon Bookish

Albums as Leo Chadburn

Selected notated works

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Simon Bookish Takes on Everything on Third Album . 1 October 2008 . . 29 July 2009.
  2. News: Are school music lessons killing music?. Wyse. Pascal. 2004-04-19. The Guardian. 2019-05-05. en-GB. 0261-3077.
  3. Web site: Leo Chadburn - New Songs, Playlists & Latest News - BBC Music. BBC. en-GB. 2019-05-05.
  4. Web site: Saturday 28th May 2016 - Resonance FM. 2019-05-04.
  5. Web site: Scott. Neil. The Mind's Construction Quarterly > Simon Bookish. 13 August 2013.
  6. Web site: Leo Chadburn . Guest Blog: Simon Bookish on His Favorite Album of the Decade . 16 February 2010 . . 6 March 2010.
  7. Web site: Brainlove. John. Review / Simon Bookish @ Nog Gallery, Durham. 13 August 2013. 8 March 2009. https://web.archive.org/web/20090308014523/http://drownedinsound.com/gigs/14235/reviews/523689. dead.
  8. Web site: Luke Turner . Simon Bookish Goes Big Band To Sing Particle Physics And Linguistics . 7 November 2008 . . 30 October 2009.
  9. Web site: tomlab. 13 August 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20120524054210/http://tomlab.com/front/index.php?action=release_detail&release_id=224&release_strike=221&artist_id=32&release_action=tracks. 24 May 2012. dead.
  10. Web site: The Quietus Reviews Simon Bookish. 22 December 2016.
  11. Web site: SIMON BOOKISH / LEO CHADBURN – REMIXES. 13 August 2013.
  12. Web site: Simon Bookish Discography at Discogs. 13 August 2013.
  13. Web site: BBC – collective. https://archive.today/20130813210326/http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/collective/A28050374. dead. 13 August 2013. 13 August 2013.
  14. Web site: Various – The Wall Re-Built! Disc Two (CD) at Discogs. 13 August 2013.
  15. Web site: Cunningham. David. a lot of pianos.... 13 August 2013.
  16. Web site: Apartment House + Simon Bookish. 13 August 2013.
  17. Web site: The week in classical: London Sinfonietta 50th anniversary concert; Britten Sinfonia - review. Maddocks. Fiona. 2018-01-28. The Guardian. en. 2018-09-09.
  18. Web site: Leo Chadburn Composer’s Kitchen 2014. 22 December 2016.
  19. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0008pn4 New Music Show, BBC Radio 3, 21 September, 2019
  20. Web site: BRITISH COMPOSER AWARDS. 22 December 2016.
  21. News: Nominees announced for British Composer Awards 2017 - M Magazine. 2017-10-26. M magazine: PRS for Music online magazine. 2018-09-09. en-US.
  22. News: Prospect recommends: The best classical music this month. Coghlan. Alexandra. 2018-09-09. en-US.
  23. Web site: Composers – LSO Soundhub. 13 August 2013.
  24. Web site: Saturday 13 April: 5pm & 7.30pm – London Symphony Orchestra [PDF]]. 13 August 2013.
  25. Web site: SIMON BOOKISH / LEO CHADBURN - EPIGRAM / MICROGRAM. 2020-07-25. www.simonbookish.com.
  26. Web site: The Quietus Features Spool's Out Spool's Out: Cassette Reviews For July By Tristan Bath. 2020-07-25. The Quietus. en-us.
  27. Web site: SIMON BOOKISH / LEO CHADBURN – PROJECTS. 13 August 2013.
  28. Web site: Matt's Gallery – Richard Grayson: The Golden Space City of God. 13 August 2013.
  29. News: Januszczak. Waldemar Januszczak. Give credit to the crunch; A rewarding trip to East End galleries proves to Waldemar Januszczak that at least our bad times beget better art. Sunday Times. 13 August 2013.
  30. Web site: Tanya Axford. 13 August 2013. https://archive.today/20130813210320/http://www.whitstablebiennale.com/biennale-programme/section/weekend-one/projects/TanyaAxford.html. 13 August 2013. dead.
  31. Web site: Matt's Gallery – Jennet Thomas: All Suffering Soon to End. 13 August 2013.
  32. Web site: An exhibition exploring art and cinema at the Irish Museum of Modern Art. 13 August 2013.
  33. Web site: Sam Marlowe . The Caucasian Chalk Circle . 13 March 2007 . . 29 July 2009.
  34. Web site: Leo Chadburn Discography at Discogs. 13 August 2013.
  35. Web site: 24 Lies Per Second – Joby Burgess, Powerplant Credits – AllMusic. 13 August 2013.
  36. Web site: Kammer Klang: Sebastian Roux + Jennifer Walshe + Lucy Railton/Leo Chadburn: 21 May 2013. 13 August 2013. https://archive.today/20130813210258/http://www.cafeoto.co.uk/kammer-klang-sebastien-roux-jennifer-walshe-lucy-railton-leo-chadburn.shtm. 13 August 2013. dead.
  37. News: London Contemporary Music Festival, review round-up: 'enthralling'. Hewett. Ivan. 2014-06-01. 2019-01-30. en-GB. 0307-1235.
  38. Web site: the works. 2012-09-24. fox additions. en. 2019-01-30.
  39. Web site: LondonJazz: Review: Final Two Days at the London Contemporary Music Festival, Peckham. 13 August 2013.
  40. Web site: Cavalleria rusticana/ Pagliacci; London contemporary music festival – review. Maddocks. Fiona. 2017-12-10. The Guardian. en. 2018-09-09.
  41. Web site: On Kawara : One Million Years (Box set) – Les presses du réel. www.lespressesdureel.com. 2019-01-30.
  42. Web site: LEO CHADBURN – WRITING. 13 August 2013.
  43. Web site: Leo Chadburn. City, University of London. en. 2019-01-30.
  44. Web site: ANTICLOCK. 2019-04-29. British Music Collection. en. 2019-05-05.
  45. Web site: Five Loops for the Bathyscaphe. Hugill. Robert. 2019-01-30.
  46. Web site: British Composer Awards. 2017-12-05. Britten-Pears Foundation. en-GB. 2019-01-30.
  47. Web site: SIMON BOOKISH / LEO CHADBURN - WORKS. www.simonbookish.com. 2019-01-30.

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