False Harmonics #20: Hilary Woods, Brandon Lopez Big Bad, Patrick Higgins

For the 20th iteration of False Harmonics, we present an ecstatic lineup of new music that explores a varied sonic landscape featuring a trio led by Irish composer & sound artist Hilary Woods, the premiere of Nada Sagrada - a new piece for large ensemble by Brandon Lopez and new work for solo guitar and electronics by Patrick Higgins.

Hilary Woods is an Irish musician, born in Dublin.

Working across song, sound, writing and analogue film, Irish artist Hilary Woods'

evocative compositions cultivate practices that are in call and response to each

other. Her heavily processed sonic excavations embedded in drone, field

recordings, electronics, piano and voice give way to an intimate and intuitive

“wild and dusky wilderness” (Boomkat). Signed as a recording artist to Sacred

Bones Records since 2018, Hilary’s most recent album, the hypnotic and

critically acclaimed Acts Of Light (2023) is a majestically moving record rooted

in physicality and feeling. Her music has been described as “the stuff of Bosch

paintings” made up of “stark and haunting compositions that stand on the edge of

a knife.” (Bandcamp)

Brandon Lopez Big Bad

feat. Cecilia Lopez, Chuck Roth, Camille Dietrich, Tom Rainey, Dennis Sullivan

Brandon Lopez is a double bassist and composer living in New York City.

“This is virtuosity in the sense that we hear on this record countless textures from Lopez—extended techniques, bowed strings that unearth wild harmonics, plucked rumblings, and low funk rootings—each conjured from a deep sense of what is being called for in a moment. This is virtuosity as vocabulary, a total command of texture, subtlety, and a depth that can be reached into. It is not the kind of soloistic performativity or frenetic get-it-all-out that characterizes so much free playing—but it is still free. “ - Cleveland Review of Books

Patrick Higgins is an American composer, guitarist, and producer from New York City, known for his work in experimental and contemporary classical music. Higgins plays guitar and composes in the band Zs, described by The New York Times as ‘one of the strongest avant-garde bands in New York.’ Heralded as a ‘formidable concert music composer’ (Boston Globe) and ‘one of the most gifted guitarists working today’ (The Quietus), Higgins has received attention for bridging traditions including baroque chamber music, contemporary noise, electronics, and 20th-century minimalism.

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