GRANPA BOOKING

Lucas ‘Granpa’ Abela’s (fka Justice Yeldham) singular journey performing their signature instrument ‘shards of amplified glass’ is the stuff of legend. Since its invention twenty-three years ago the glass has evolved from a means to create free-noise cacophonies into a wildly versatile instrument producing an outsider form of organic electronica. Described by the New York Times as sounding like “John Coltrane playing a volcano” the glass is played by vibrating the pane orally, producing electroacoustic signal alongside control voltage envelopes harvested from the sound’s dynamics. These are used to performatively contort the signal as it’s splintered through six parallel effects chains that form dense layers of anomalous music.

Staged in the dark Granpa’s current in the round performance is a communal experience. The first row sits on the floor surrounding them, the second and third rows seated in a circular formation while the remaining audience stands. This human amphitheatre draws focus to the centre where Abela converts this energy into spatially rich organically formed electronica as light pulsates from within their modular case in synchronicity with the dissonant sounds somehow produced by vibrating a shard of glass pursed against their lips.