James Blackshaw performs celestial and spirit-lifting guitar-led compositions. Meditative in quality, cinematic in scope, his music spirals gracefully across complex patterns, motifs and harmonics. He made his name as a 12-string acoustic guitarist, and his relationship with the instrument is near perfect.
The great news is that James is playing Platform this July, the terribly sad news is that this is his farewell Scottish show. James has made the incredibly difficult decision to stop playing live after this tour. He will, however, continue to record music albeit less frequently and not necessarily on 12-string guitar.
This is really a concert you shouldn’t miss.
About John Lemke
Since trading his native Berlin for the sunny shores of Glasgow many moons ago, John Lemke has been carving out a very unique music blend, fusing rhythm with rich textures and emotive melodies. The quest for unusual, inspiring sound sources and a healthy disregard for genre boundaries have always been at the heart of John’s process,. With his debut album ‘People Do’ (2013) and its follow up EP ‘Walizka’ (2014), John set out on a musical path which is ever evolving and is often influenced by his work as a sound designer and film composer.
The array of influences on John’s new album ‘Nomad Frequencies’ is vast, but never over-powering. From the meditative tuning forks and dub echoes to the hints of minimalism, free jazz explosions to the Lynchian atmospherics and lo-fi splashes, all elements serve nothing more than the album’s narrative journey between friction and harmony. A rhythmic backbone collides with rich ambience and melody, often infectious and jarring at the same time, forging a soulful whole.
