In Korzo you will see a double bill with Sketch351 and the dreamy yet disturbing experimental pop of Show Pony.
Show Pony – I May Fall into the Sound
Avant‑pop — that’s how American‑Dutch double bassist, vocalist, and producer Laura Nygren describes the music she creates under her alias Show Pony. Think: a melodically rich, rhythmically charged, electronically shimmering amalgam in which listeners may detect traces of Björk, Radiohead, or Kate Bush.
Yet for Nygren, Show Pony is less a stylistic laboratory than a space for new collaborations. She made her EP (Show Pony, 2021) together with Australian producer Allison Wright, a.k.a. No Compliments. I May Fall into the Sound is the result of a close collaboration with audiovisual artist Tatiana Rosa and scenographer Nina Kay. At Dag in de Branding, Show Pony presents a special duo version of the project, joined by Jacob Maskell Key on drums.
I May Fall into the Sound grew out of an artistic research project Nygren launched in 2023 with support from Stichting Rizoom. The central question: how can ecological processes serve as inspiration for new music? The concrete starting point was Massancummock — also known as Faulkner Island — located just off the coast of her hometown, Guilford (Connecticut, USA). The island is threatened by climate change and will eventually disappear due to rising sea levels.
“Initially, we wanted to make this slow process perceptible by translating data on shifting coastlines into sound and image,” Nygren explains in early March over a video call. “But artistically, that approach turned out not to be fully satisfying. Working with data produced results that were fairly generic and interchangeable, while we wanted to express something about how unique and special this place is.”
So Nygren and Rosa decided to take a different approach. A practical obstacle: because two protected bird species live on Massancummock, the island itself was inaccessible. But the city archives of Guilford offered a solution. Nygren: “We found a treasure trove of photos and historical material, and I discovered that my hometown is in the grip of a real drone craze.” Aerial footage of the coastline and Faulkner Island proved to be gold for scenographer Nina Kay’s 3D animations.
Gradually, a more narrative, personal layer emerged in the project, Nygren says: “On one hand, I May Fall into the Sound is still about human ecological vulnerability in the context of the climate crisis. On the other hand, it also touches on personal themes — home, transience, mortality — with the image of a disappearing island as a metaphor.”
Glisten
During this concert, Show Pony also presents a ten‑minute preview of a new project: Glisten, a reference to the shimmer of ice and snow — and a word in which “listen” is quietly embedded.
The first ideas for this project date back to the summer of 2019, when Nygren spent a month in Iceland. The landscapes made a deep impression on her and were a major source of inspiration for her EP.
With support from the Fonds Podiumkunsten, Nygren dives into Icelandic nature with Glisten, focusing specifically on the materiality of snow and ice. Using field recordings, new vocal techniques, and electronics, she distills music from the sounds of melting and seeping. How can fleeting materials like snow and ice express collective resilience? How can art resist ecological destruction and counter political apathy? The ultimate goal is a large choral work, Nygren says. In Korzo, she presents a first sketch: a solo piece with electronics.
Tatiana Rosa, concept, visuals
Nina Kay, 3D animation, scenography
Jacob Maskell Key, drums
Sketch351 – Refluxus IV (working title)
About two years ago, the members of Sketch351 — ensemble‑in‑residence at Dag in de Branding — found themselves in an artistic deadlock. As the saying goes, the night is darkest just before dawn. In the midst of what they now jokingly call their “Kafkaesque identity crisis,” they stumbled upon George Maciunas’ famous Fluxus Manifesto (1963), a text that would prove invaluable to their development.
Although more than sixty years old, the Fluxus Manifesto felt as urgent as ever to the members of Sketch, pianist Inês Lopes writes in an email: “Maciunas’ call to purge the world of bourgeois, intellectualized, and commercialized art resonated strongly with us, as did the radical simplicity of the Fluxus aesthetic. The rawness and directness. The idea of the arbitrary. Doing things for the sake of doing them. We found that incredibly inspiring.”
One thing led to another: throughout their two‑year residency at Dag in de Branding, Fluxus became both inspiration and method, says Lopes. “It allowed us to create a new artistic playground in which no idea is too strange to try. The artistic freedom we experienced from the festival has been invaluable.”
Another crucial factor was the close collaboration with violinist Heleen Hulst, who coached Sketch351 during the residency: “From day one, Heleen supported us unconditionally. She encouraged us to explore even our most absurd ideas and introduced us to actor and director Titus Muizelaar. Although we’ve only known Titus for a year, our bond has become very strong.”
Over the past year, Sketch and Muizelaar created four projects for Dag in de Branding. Those who attended the 73rd edition last June witnessed Refluxus I in the foyer of Theater aan het Spui: “a kind of introduction to ourselves,” says Lopes, “but packaged as a satirical commentary on how ensembles typically present themselves to programmers and audiences.”
Refluxus II took the form of an unexpected pop‑up performance during a bus ride at edition 74, with the bus driver as co‑performer and a surprise lottery that sent one lucky passenger home with a spectacular prize. Refluxus III, wittily subtitled Egg‑citing, became a performance about eggs and ladders, built around pressing research questions such as: Can you eat ladders? And: Should one want to climb eggs?
For the final piece of their residency (working title: Refluxus IV), Sketch351 opts for a more classical setting: a concert hall with a clear separation between stage and audience. Lopes: “As always, we want to reveal as little as possible in advance, but let’s just say that this time we’ve drawn explicit inspiration from traditional forms in classical music practice, such as the symphony. Perhaps we’ll even present a more restrained version of the ensemble.”
It promises to be yet another nonsensical, unfathomable circus from an ensemble determined to follow no goal whatsoever.
Teresa Costa, flute
Daniel Martins, trombone
Alice Andreani, cello
Inês Lopes, piano
Gonçalo Martins, percussion