ED CARLSEN

Ed Carlsen has always been a wanderer. A dreamer, even. Of faraway places and people, of a world to be explored. Perhaps it was growing up on an island, Sardinia; perhaps it was his grandfather, teaching him about the stars on warm summer nights. Before becoming an acclaimed musician, Carlsen was a pilot, something he “really wanted to become – I studied very hard for it.” In a way, it was the perfect vocation – itinerant, a little romantic – for someone with his wanderlust and thirst for new experiences. Gradually though, he drifted; away from flying – “I realised it wasn’t for me,” he says – and all around Europe. Back to music too, something he’d grown up with and loved, and something that came back into focus. “Music took over.” Playing both guitar and piano, his early influences were diverse and eclectic. Prog rock and metal were first loves, but also The Beatles and records by the likes of Steven Wilson. An interest in production led him to a degree in Music Technology at the London College of Music, where sound design, and composition for film and visual media, further piqued his creativity. Combined with his unconventional approach to playing instruments, it gave his new work an intriguing edge; innovative, exciting, daring. The music he started creating was imbued with aspects from both of these two, disparate professions – the pilot and the musician. It was technical yet meditative, precise yet poignant. “Feet on the ground, head in the sky,” is how he sums up this duality, and his music carries a wonderful, creative dichotomy. Listening is like floating in a daydream, Carlsen’s curious textures – crisp beats, hazy synth washes, delicate electronica – contrasting neatly with a reflective sense of intimacy and the blissful serenity he’s become so adept at.

BRUEDER SELKE

cello & piano/ electronic Born in East Berlin, the poly-instrumental composer & curator duo Brueder Selke is considered an insider's tip among music lovers. From Mary Anne Hobbs to like-minded colleagues, there's hardly anyone who hasn't come to appreciate the subtle experimental, yet accessible releases and performances of Sebastian on cello and Daniel on piano. Until now, the two of them have acted hidden under their alias CEEYS to come to terms with their childhood in East Berlin's Plattenbau.

With this past behind the Berlin Wall, collaborations have become an essential element in the work of the two, which is why they have been developing their own concert formats since 2017. Their annual hand-picked Q3Ambientfest has found a home in the Filmstadt Potsdam. In fall 2021, the second part of a dilogy with Musikhaus and reworks to their double LP Hausmusik of 2020 was released, gathering well-known and emerging guests and friends such as Simon Goff, Thor Harris, David Allred, Midori Hirano, Arnold Kasar, Hoshiko Yamane, Mara Simpson, Marina Baranova, Pascal Schumacher & Ben Lukas Boysen. The idea of exchange also determined their debut at the Ambient Festival: a reciprocal broadcast shaped an evening with performances by Hauschka, Alvin Lucier's The Ever Present Orchestra, Ausklang and the Brueder Selke.

„It’s an extraordinary piece of music. It’s the work of two brothers, Sebastian on cello and Daniel on piano. I saw them premiere tracks from their new album at a gig that I went to in Berlin. This is a project which is written about the buildings that surrounded them in their childhood, growing up on the streets of East Berlin.“ Mary Anne Hobbs, BBC Radio 6 Music

The show is supported by Liveurope