Tag Archives: Shards

Shards & Isolation Choir share new composition ‘Inside I’ll Sing’

18 April 2020

As with all parts of society, the coronavirus pandemic is affecting musicians and artists on every level. Kieran Brunt’s choral group Shards has released a new track in response to this disruption, written in the first few days of the UK lockdown as live music went on an indefinite hiatus. Entitled ‘Inside I’ll Sing’, the composition saw Brunt enlist an array of stellar musicians to collaborate remotely as the Isolation Choir, including Anna Meredith, Hatis Noit, Nico Muhly, Douglas Dare, and many more.  After reaching out to other musicians, Brunt pieced it together in his makeshift studio at home in London”. He explains:

“I reached out to musician friends in the UK and abroad to see if they would lend their voices to an ‘Isolation Choir’, and was overwhelmed by the positivity and enthusiasm that everyone responded with. Like me, many needed a distraction from current events and valued just being given a simple task to do. I recorded a demo of the song and sent out instructions on how to record at home with whatever means were available.”

Director and singer Fiona Jane Burgess, who also collaborated on the song, has paired it with an accompanying video, featuring unused footage which she used to”rebuil[d] the narrative to poignantly complement the mood and emotion of the song.”  Take a look below.

‘Inside I’ll Sing’ is released through Erased Tapes and all proceeds will be donated to Help Musicians.

Kieran Brunt’s choral group Shards set to release debut album Final Sound

21 June 2019

Kieran Brunt‘s ties with choir singing go back to his school days. The London based singer, songwriter and producer later studied music at St. John’s College in Cambridge, and since then he has collaborated with the likes of Terry Riley, Anna von Hausswolff, Michael Price, and Nils Frahm, amongst many others. He first collaborated with Frahm in 2016, when he was asked to form a choral group, Shards, who are now signed to Erased Tapes and set to release their debut album. Entitled Final Sound, the record features entirely new compositions by Brunt, melding voices, synths and percussion. “The album’s pieces are intended to be miniature sonic paintings”, explains the label, “with each adding to an overall picture of the emotional confusion of early adulthood: the uncertainty, the excitement, the terror and relief.”

We’ll have to wait until August 30th for Final Sound to drop but we can already hear the magical first single ‘Summer Sickness’, a track that “explores feeling anxious and depressed whilst everyone around you is seemingly happy and smiling”.