Sound art, spoken word

CHAMBER MUSIC

VOCAL (small ensemble) MUSIC

The Bells is a secular carol setting of an Edgar Allen Poe poem. It was commissioned by The Sunday Boys and premiered by them at Manchester Cathedral on December 2nd, 2022.

The Bells performed by The Sunday Boys

Lullaby for the Witching Hour' was written in 2004 for juice, the experimental vocal trio that Kerry is a member of. It was written with a few different influences in mind: Brian Wilson's 'Our Prayer', the Belgian/African a cappella group Zap Mama, and the soundtrack to the French animated film 'Belleville Rendez-Vous

Lullaby for the Witching Hour by Kerry Andrew

Kerry's first piece for juice, the trio of which she is a member. It was inspired by the first vocal sound you hear on the track, influenced by Meredith Monk's writing and Central African Pygymy vocal polyphony. It sets the translation of a Japanese court poem, a tanka about the moon, in the middle. It is abstractly about madness, cuckoos, and moons.

Lunacy is one track on juice's debut album, 'Songspin'

www.juicevocalensemble.net
www.kerryandrew.net

luna-cy

The opening track from Kerry's large-scale late-night mass, 'dusksongs', which was commissioned by The Ebor Singers and released as an album on Boreas Music.

O Nata Lux

One of seven works published by Oxford University Press, and here sung by the Chapel Choir of Selwyn College.

Hevene Quene

A haunting carol that combines irregular melodic lines with lilting ostinato passages. It sets several ancient texts.

For SSATB Choir, with optional Soprano solo. 
Available to purchase at Oxford University Press: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/adam-and-the-mother-9780193365674?cc=gb&lang=en&

Adam And The Mother

'Fruit Songs' was originally written for the soprano Sarah Dacey and acoustic guitar. It has undergone other arrangements for chamber group (soprano, clarinet, violin, 'cello, piano and percussion) and for soprano and piano.

This version is sung by Jenny Duck-Chong with Janet Agostino on guitar, as part of the group Halcyon, a brilliant Australian ensemble who champion new music and have also given the Australian premieres of my works 'luna-cy' and 'ojo'. www.halcyon.org.au

They set five different poems about fruit!
I - Mango
II - Plum
III - Blackberry
IV - Cherry
V - Apple

'Kerry Andrew’s ‘fruit songs’…were playful, punning and admirably concise—not unlike a musical equivalent of the visual puns of the poetry of e.e. cummings.' Sydney Morning Herald, 2003

'Kerry Andrew’s ‘fruit songs’ …treat the voice as a circus acrobat treats a trapeze.' North Shore Times, Sydney, 2006

blackberry from fruit songs

'Fruit Songs' was originally written for the soprano Sarah Dacey and acoustic guitar. It has undergone other arrangements for chamber group (soprano, clarinet, violin, 'cello, piano and percussion) and for soprano and piano.

This version is sung by Jenny Duck-Chong with Janet Agostino on guitar, as part of the group Halcyon, a brilliant Australian ensemble who champion new music and have also given the Australian premieres of my works 'luna-cy' and 'ojo'. www.halcyon.org.au

They set five different poems about fruit! 
I - Mango 
II - Plum 
III - Blackberry 
IV - Cherry 
V - Apple

'Kerry Andrew’s ‘fruit songs’…were playful, punning and admirably concise—not unlike a musical equivalent of the visual puns of the poetry of e.e. cummings.' Sydney Morning Herald, 2003

'Kerry Andrew’s ‘fruit songs’ …treat the voice as a circus acrobat treats a trapeze.' North Shore Times, Sydney, 2006

apple from fruit songs

Part 4 of my late-night mass, 'dusksongs', which was first commissioned and recorded by The Ebor Singers. 

This is a Celtic song not often heard as part of the Compline Mass. I've set it for solo alto, with the rest of the choir gradually ghosting in with textural and then pitched sustained material which echoes the mantra-like solo.

criosda liom a cadal from dusksongs

An anthem originally published by Oxford University Press in their anthology 'Cantica Nova', this piece inspired The Ebor Singers to commission a large-scale late-night mass with this existing work as its last piece. 'dusksongs' now finishes with this piece, which also works performed on its own and has since been published by OUP as a stand-alone copy.

o lux beata trinitas

This theatrical chamber piece was written for 3 female voices, clarinet, trumpet, electric guitar, electric bass, vibraphone, electric piano, electric organ, and radio player. It was inspired by listening to lots of post-rock and a sound I heard a tube train make on the London Underground.

Its programme note is a poem:

It started late into the night, sitting on the Tube
caged in its hammer-glare 
the air filmy with sweat
drunks turning the seats to liquid.

Then the train curved on the rail.
It made a sound like light bending.

This piece should feel nothing like sitting on the Tube.
(KA)

This recording is from a live performance by The Chimera Ensemble.

late night radio (sleepmusic)

From Rhymes and Charms for Fly-Away Things, performed live by The Oriana Chorale, Canberra, Australia in July 2024. Audio engineered by Eric Pozza.

1. Ladybird LIVE

2. Magpie, Crow and Dove LIVE

3. Bat LIVE

4. Bee LIVE

5. Cuckoo and Hawk LIVE

King Henry is a short story written by me in response to the traditional 'loathly lady' ballad, King Henry, which I recorded as You Are Wolf on my album hare // hunter // moth // ghost (2023, Firecrest Records). I reinterpreted the song into my story as a queer ghost/love story, and repurposed some of the musical material to accompany the song. I read and produced the story.

King Henry short story with music

A walk around the People's Park in the centre of Zhengzhou, which was full of activity on a Saturday afternoon.

Ping pong, traditional performers, karaoke, rollercoasters and lots of people dancing to some Chinese ska.

Kerry is a Musician in Residence in China with the British Council/PRS for Music Foundation. She is visiting the Henan region, mostly based in Zhengzhou, from February 25th-March 31st. She is making work based on the trickster fox in European and Chinese folklore.

Find out more at fox-pop.com

People's Park, Zhengzhou

I wrote this piece for COMA, the fantastic organisation which gets non-professional musicians to play exciting new music, for their anniversary weekend at Kings Place.

It sets the sound poem 'blues' by Canadian poet bpNichol, whose work I have always loved - I discovered him in a Canadian modern poetry anthology that my folks had bought (I lived in Canada when I was little). bpNichol wrote concrete and sound poetry, music theatre, collage, fiction and children's books and worked in performance and sculpture. Browse his archive here! It is beautiful.  http://www.bpnichol.ca/

Huge thanks to Eleanor Nichol for granting me permission to set her late husband's text.

This recording is of me doing all the parts. It's a flexible piece for any number of voices. It's now been released on Goliard Recordings.

www.coma.org

COMAblues

Graininess and Sheen was made while I was Composer in Residence at Handel House Museum in London (2010-12). I spent time recording interviews with the volunteers at the House, and recording myself playing the three keyboard instruments there as well as other sounds in the House. Every sound you hear comes from the House.

www.kerryandrew.net

Graininess and Sheen

Sounds of Fair Isle chosen, recorded and curated by the children of Fair Isle Primary School, under the guidance of Kerry Andrew - "Half-Island Half-Bird" project, Fair Isle August 2016

Our Fair Isle Sounds

'THE, WHAT IS IT? THE GOLDEN EAGLE?', commissioned and performed by Icebreaker at Nottingham Lakeside.

I admit being a little terrified about writing this piece; almost all of the music that I have written professionally has included the voice. However, I treated it as a chance to experiment with mixing classical and leftfield pop styles in a way that I’ve always wanted to. I am a huge admirer of Anna Meredith’s, and was also thinking of David Lang and the bands Battles and Dawn of Midi as I was writing.

The piece is partly inspired by contemporary America, chiefly a recent road trip down the US West Coast and into Arizona, especially driving up to Joshua Tree National Park. The ridiculous vistas - big roads, wide skies and dramatic rock formations - gave me at least one of the main riffs. The title is from a transcript of the interview Donald Trump gave to the massed journalists of the New York Times in November 2016, when talking about his disapproval of wind farms in California. He couldn’t remember the name of a very well-known bird of prey, which he seemed to be attempting to say was in danger from getting caught in wind turbines, although it’s a little hard to tell from his meandering, grandstanding speech patterns. 

I’ve been known to write a piece or five inspired by birds, so halfway through writing this I realised that the wavering ’cello was essentially a golden eagle flying up and around a wind turbine (unhurt), before ideally swooping back down and pecking viciously at the next President. (Please note this was written before the inauguration.)

I am very grateful to Icebreaker for commissioning me.

Ice 202 Nottingham (22_02_17) [music only]

THE, WHAT IS IT? THE GOLDEN EAGLE? (Performed LIVE by Icebreaker)

A piece for female voices (originally written for single voices, but arranged for choir), and performed here by York University's The 24. Hexennacht means 'witches' night' and refers to Walpurgis Night, a spring festival on April 30th.

Hexennacht

The second movement of my piece written at Aldeburgh in 2011, 'Birdsong For Two Voices', for two pianos, loop station and speaker. This movement sets my own text, based on 'whisperingsong', a birdsong phenomenon when birds such as robins or blackbirds are in a state of arousal! Their beaks are often shut, but keep blurting out little bursts of fairly-formed song. I imagine that the acoustic first is the 'translation', or what the bird hears in his head, and the second looped half (freely collected live on the loop station and then manipulated by the other pianist) is what we might hear in the forest.

Birdsong For Two Voices II Whisperingsong

'Who We Are' was commissioned by the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain to open their concert at the Royal Albert Hall in 2016. It broadly addresses themes of unity and identity, using various iterations of the words 'who/we/are/you/I/don't/know'.

It was written for massed youth choirs - Girls' Choir, Boys' Choir, Training Choir, Main Choir and Chamber Choir Girls - but the choir parts can be divided up amongst a large (100+) youth choir.

Do watch the fantastic video of the NYCGB to see the choreography and body percussion in action! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDSPCA8rMBo

Please visit www.kerryandrew.net for details on acquiring a perusal score or purchasing a score.

Who We Are

Commissioned by the London Contemporary Church Music Festival in 2010 and broadcast on BBC Radio 3.

Kerry Andrew's Album

Magnificat by Kerry Andrew

A 4-minute showreel with short excerpts of all ten pieces in juice's 'Laid Bare: 10 Love Songs' songbook project. With all-new music by Gavin Bryars, Anna Meredith, Mica Levi, E.Laine, Jim Moray, Dai Fujikura, Errollyn Wallen, Roxanna Panufnik, Damien Harron and Phillip Neil Martin.

The London premiere is at King's Place on October 22nd. Buy your tickets NOW!

juice - 'Laid Bare: 10 Love Songs' showreel

Commissioned by the London Contemporary Church Music Festival, and premiered at St Pancras Church, May 13th 2015 and broadcast live on BBC Radio 3.

I am fascinated by the influence of Anglo-Saxon, Germanic and Norse mythology on Christianity in the Middle Ages. Christian poets attempted to appeal to those still embedded in the pagan traditions, adapting the gospels to fit the cultural climate. It is particularly apparent in what is often called the earliest English poem, The Dream of The Rood, which exists in three forms: on runes on the 7th-century stone Ruthwell Cross in Dumfriesshire, Scotland (although it was possibly added later, a sort of Middle Ages graffiti); in Old English on parchment on the 10th-century expanded version in the Vercelli book in Northern Italy; and on silver, in Roman letters on the Brussels Cross made in Wessex. The symbol of the cross took on an especially Germanic/Celtic flavour in the 7th century, represented as both a battle-standard and as a version of the Tree of Life – and it is strangely reminiscent of the Norse god Odin’s quest to glean the meaning of life by hanging himself on the great tree Yggdrasil for nine days and nine nights.

The Dream of the Rood is an incredibly evocative poem notable for its mystical, dream-like quality and a sense of heroism, with its depiction of Jesus Christ as a proactive, perhaps even aggressive, warrior. It uses a riddle-like opening in which the poet dreams of the tree which was the cross bearing Christ at the crucifixion. The tree then speaks to him in his dream, describing in vivid, fleshy imagery its own wounds as if it itself experienced the torture with and for Christ. The section that was added in the Vercelli version has the tree explain Christ’s ultimate triumph and the salvation message, before the poet/dreamer’s renewed sense of hope.

It is a lengthy poem in the expanded form; I wanted to create my own loose translation of the text, and particularly used Michael Alexander’s (The Earliest English Poems, Penguin) and Mary Rambaran-Olm’s (dreamoftherood.co.uk) as the basis for my own, fragmented and reduced version. I borrowed fragments of the original Old English poem for the ‘tree-speak’.

For the ‘song of tears’, I used a rough transcription of a keening song as sung by Kitty Gallagher and recorded by Alan Lomax in 1951 (2015 is his centenary) on World Library of Folk and Primitive Music, Vo. 2: Ireland (Rounder, 1998).

Dream Of The Rood (fragments)LIVE

Commissioned by Created Out of Mind/Wellcome Trust for the National Youth Choir of Great Britain. This is the choral version (it can also be sung by 8 single voices).

PPA (Primary Progressive Aphasia) is a dementia that affects different people in different ways, but includes semantic dementia, in which people affected might have difficulty finding the right word, and/or talking in a garrulous, roundabout way; and Progressive Non-Fluent Dementia, where people might be slower in speaking and begin to stutter, and/or begin to lose the meaning of the words as well as the words themselves.

I was especially struck by a short video from Created Out of Mind's research, in which a subject described tying up roses that had been disarrayed in the wind. Unlike some of those affected by PPA, this gentleman was very fluent in describing his morning activity in the garden, with demonstrative gestures; he just didn’t have the particular word to describe his main subject. 

I wanted to create a piece that set his words and was very subtly influenced by other forms of PPA. The aim was for a sense of unpredictable fluency; one in which very common words were treated as musically as more poetic ones might usually be; and one in which the creativity of the human mind in developing other ways to communicate is celebrated.

By Any Other Name choral version (LIVE)

Commissioned by the Hebden Bridge Piano Festival and premiered at Waterfront Hall on April 27th, 2019

Written for (and performed here by) Rolf Hind 
and in memoriam Peter Maxwell Davies

2019 marks the centenary of the scuttling of the German fleet in the bay of Scapa Flow, Orkney. The narration (read by myself) was written after a short visit there in December 2018, and is also inspired by the wonderful scapaflowwrecks.com, where you can virtually visit the sites of the remaining sunken wrecks.

Scuttle

A still day. Low winter sun.
The mountains of Hoy. 
The soft hills on the mainland. 
The sound of sheep, and one end
of a faint rainbow hits Scapa Flow,
as if to say, here.

Come down, here. 
Deeper.
Deeper still.
What do you see?

Bodies. Long carcasses, 
lodged into the sea-bed.
Whale-like. Ribs. Steel ribs.
Huge twin rudders like fins.
An anchor chain lies curled,
guns hang upside down.
A strange, shattered world.
There are scattered boretubes 
and spurling pipes,
hawkers, spars and deck plates.

From the beach at Deep Dale, 
you would have seen them. 
From White Breast. Midland Ness. 
From the lighthouse at the Calf of Cava. 
The Calf of Flotta. The Barrel of Butter.

The sea is enamoured with them 
over time, brings jewels.
Sea lemons and brittlestars,
moon jellies and dahlia anenomes.
A bow is loaded with coralline seaweed. Sunstars.

So many colours on the salt-rusted metal.
Tangerine, dusk-pink, claret, 
buttercream, indigo, bubblegum. 

Look. An armoured deck is encrusted 
with seamats, shipworms and saddle oysters,
and there, over the rivets and from portholes, 
hermit crabs and rock lobsters and queen scallops:
things that scuttle.

Life.
The life that comes when men have finished sinking themselves.

Keeled, listed, lulled, enchanted.
These bones have their own songs now.

From ship to coral, from coral to seaweed,
From seaweed to fish, from fish to seal,
From seal to whale, from whale to the cold open air
and the silver stun of the sea.

Words by Kerry Andrew

Scuttle

Devised with and written for Year 2 and Year 5, Risley Primary School and the Heath Quartet. Folk songs were collected from Year 2 and 5 at Risley Primary School and arranged/woven into a piece for the children plus the Heath Quartet.

Commissioned by Wigmore Hall Learning and premiered at Wigmore Hall on July 12th, 2016.

Songchants

'birdman's song' is for clarinet in A and loop station, from my large-scale chamber music-theatre work based on an Inuit myth, 'sedna stories'. It's also available as a stand-alone work.

It was developed with and written for the wonderful musician Matt Dibble, who performed it here in the live performance from 2005 at the Rymer Auditorium, University of York. Matt accidentally squeaked on the last loop and marvellously incorporated it into his improvisation.

Matt died in spring 2021, and the piece is dedicated to the memory of him, my dear friend, bandmate and colleague.

Birdman's Song

Yerbury Primary School play their version of Composer in Residence 2010-12 Kerry Andrew's 'Screech', live at St. George's Church, Hanover Square, London on February 26th 2013.

The piece is part of a suite for recorder quintet Consortium 5 called 'badluck birds', and was commission by Handel House Museum. 'Screech' exists as a graphic score comprising 52 flexible fragments which can be played in any combination and order.

'Screech' is old regional British name for the mistle thrush. It was believe that these birds were bad luck because they sang lustily just before, and throughout, storms.

You can compose your very own video-composition version of 'Screech' at screech.handelhouse.org

handelhouse.org
consortium5.com
kerryandrew.net

Screech - Yerbury Primary School

Work for string quartet and spoken word, exploring my relationship with my deaf ear and tinnitus. Commissioned by and peformed here by the Ligeti Quartet, with me reading my words.

Tinnitus Songs LIVE from Kings Place

The Beach Boys' version, sung by me on a particularly throaty day... it's SPRING!!!

Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring

Kerry Andrew is a composer, performer and author based in London. 
She specialises in vocal music and opera, choral music, folk, jazz, and community music. Choral and experimental work has been heard on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4, 6Music and Classic FM and on national news channels. She won a British Composer Award in 2010 and two more for her chamber operas 'Woodwose' and 'Dart's Love' in 2014. She won her 4th for 'who we are' for the National Youth Choirs at the Royal Albert Hall. She was 2010-12's Handel House Composer in Residence. In 2017, she made her Proms debut with BBC Ten Pieces.

Her debut novel, Swansong, is out now: https://www.waterstones.com/book/swansong/kerry-andrew/9781911214229 and her second novel, SKIN, is published in February 2021.

Kerry performs as alt-folk artist You Are Wolf http://soundcloud.com/you-are-wolf; music can be heard and ordered here: https://youarewolf.bandcamp.com/

She performs with the award-winning vocal trio https://soundcloud.com/juicevocalensembleuk

She also performs with the jazz/classical/rock collective https://soundcloud.com/dollyman.

‘Stunning‘ Classic FM

‘Brilliant, Berio-like vocal effects…‘ The Times

www.kerryandrew.net

Kerry Andrew Composer

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