House & Land / Patrick Best / F/I/P / Page Campbell | Arts + Literature Laboratory | Madison Contemporary Arts Center

House & Land / Patrick Best / F/I/P / Page Campbell

Dreamy Appalachian tunes and more from local and touring musicians.

House & Land is a collaboration of Sarah Louise (VDSQ, Scissor Tail Editions) and Sally Anne Morgan of the Black Twig Pickers (Thrill Jockey). Together, Sarah and Sally play haunting psychedelic Appalachian folk drone that invokes the rhododendron thickets, creeks and mountains of their local landscape in Western North Carolina. Sarah Louise is a preeminent 12-string guitarist, whose playing is influenced by clawhammer banjo and other nature-based drone styles from around the world. Her lush, hypnotic compositions are bolstered by Sally’s droning fiddle style, that incorporates traditional mountain fiddle tunes as well as modern improvisation and minimalism. Sally’s playing in the Black Twig Pickers, who have a history of collaborating with guitar heavyweights from Jack Rose to Steve Gunn, has geared her towards this perfect collaboration with Sarah. Together as House & Land, they weave their instrumental prowess with medieval vocal harmonies to create something both rooted... Read More

F/I/P is the duo of Jake Meginsky and Bill Nace. Both are veterans of the Massachusetts/East Coast improvised experimental music scene. Nace is best known for his project Body/Head with Kim Gordon, but has also performed and recorded with Chris Corsano, Paul Flaherty, Jooklo Duo and many, many others. 

Patrick W. Best is an industrial designer with a long history of working in sound. With early experience as a guitarist in jazz and punk bands, Best has been a member of the internationally touring music ensemble Pelt for more than 20 years, sculpting dense, organic, in-the-moment compositions based on oceanic drones and endlessly inventive improvisation. He has also been a longtime member of Spiral Joy Band. He turned to a more stripped palette as a solo performer, returning to a variety of guitars to produce spiraling, minimalist figures whose stark outlines carry outsize emotions. Professionally a designer of everything from furniture to packaging to children's museum exhibits, Best's music is a study of minute aspects of sonic variety, an exploration and highlighting of textures and tones torn down to their barest roots and recast in often-surprising patterns.

 

Page Campbell is a musician who splits her time between her hometown of Athens, Georgia and her new residence in Madison, WI. She has been writing, recording and touring for 15 years in many Athens bands, namely Hope For Agoldensummer and Dream Boat. Page also composes film scores from time to time, and has most recently teamed up with Dream Boat partner Dan Donahue to compose and record a score for the film Henry Gamble's Birthday, which premiered in late 2015. Page's solo sets are a rare effort on her part to etherically fill spaces in her music that are created by the absence of her bandmates. In so doing, she appeals to her vocal range and guitar fingerings; sometimes a percussive device, a sad irish tune, or a psychedelic effect. 

PLAN YOUR VISIT

Arts + Literature Laboratory is located at 111 S. Livingston Street #100, Madison, Wisconsin, 53703.

Our galleries are open Tuesday through Friday 10am-5pm and Saturday noon to 5pm, and other programs take place throughout the week. Please check the events calendar and education section for details.

CALENDAR

Sign Up For Our Newsletter

Stay up to date on upcoming programs and opportunities through our monthly newsletter.