Jasper Leyland

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News

Jasper Leyland will be performing live at the Laban dance centre in London on Thursday 3rd July, alongside Alexander Wendt, Janek Schaefer and Douglas Benford. The event is entitled '108 Pieces Demolition' and is based around a multi-channel sound installation, building site and live performance set up by Alexander Wendt, investigating concepts of demolition and construction. The evening starts at 6.30pm. Directions to venue here and more information about the event here.

The third Jasper Leyland album 'Wake' is out now on 12x50, the fifth volume in their 'Carbon' series. You can download a full track from it ('Taken') in the MP3s section, and the CD is available now from the shop page priced £8, including postage to anywhere in the world. This release was album of the week at Boomkat, and you can read their review (and others) in the press section.

A new Jasper Leyland track entitled 'Worth Ash' appears on the new 'Little Things' compilation from the Tokyo based label Flau. The compilation is themed around small, everyday acoustics and the vivid moments of spring, and will also feature unreleased tracks by Hood, F.S. Blumm, Cokiyu, and The Boats, amongst many others.

'Fieldstone' has now sold out, both from here and Benbecula. The only place worldwide you can still get this is Duotone in Japan, who still have a (very) few copies left. So if you want to get hold of this record then it may be worth contacting them.

Biography

Jasper Leyland is the alias of sound-explorer Jonathan Brewster, who currently resides in rural North Yorkshire (U.K.). His work combines melodic drone structures and subtly ebbing textures with playfully rhythmic acoustic manipulations and splashes of field recordings. Moving between a variety of instrumental sources such as zither, chimes, melodica, acoustic and electric guitars, and accordion, Brewster extracts fragments of sound before applying restrained digital processing, layers of field recordings, and other incidental aural flotsam, to craft organic compositions.

He released his debut EP, 'Capsize', in August 2005 on the Stray Dog Army imprint. This was followed by the release of an album, 'Margin', in May 2006. A second album, 'Fieldstone', was released on Benbecula Records in February 2007 as part of their ‘Minerals’ Series. His latest release is the third album 'Wake' on London based label 12x50, the fifth volume of their 'Carbon' series.

Jasper Leyland began performing live late in 2005, and undertook his first UK tour in December 2006. This series of shows saw him using a wider variety of acoustic instruments to further combine live playing with real-time digital processing. In November 2007 he was invited to play at the Sound festival in Aberdeen, sharing a bill with Fred Frith.

Discography

‘Capsize’ EP, Stray Dog Army MZL002 (August 2005)

‘Margin’, Stray Dog Army MZL004 (May 2006)

‘Fieldstone’, Benbecula Minerals Series BEN528 (February 2007)

'Wake', 12x50, Carbon Series Volume 5 (January 2008)

'Worth Ash', V / A 'Little Things', Flau (2008)

Upcoming:

'Sediments' EP, Smallfish (2008)

MP3s

Taken (full track - download)

Caraway (full track - stream)

Margin (full track - download)