Circuit Des Yeux and Alan Sparhawk present Wordless Music

About this event

Circuit Des Yeux and Alan Sparhawk present Wordless Music

with: Ghost Marrow & Johnny Bell

Presented by Ghost Canyon and OneStraw

HALEY FOHR (CIRCUIT DES YEUX)

A musician, composer, and multidisciplinary artist, Fohr’s work defies easy categorization. It has encompassed acclaimed albums, free-form improvisation, and large ensemble compositions. Throughout, the center of Fohr’s music has been her voice. It is a powerful, seemingly supernatural instrument — a four-octave span that can span gentle melodies and elemental wails. The hearth of her work engages the human spirit in a deep, uncannily ancient way that few contemporary artists are able to access to their own accord. Each performance she brings to the stage leaves the listener if not transformed, certainly gifted with a new currency of internal investigation.

In 2018, Fohr created an original soundtrack for Charles Bryant’s Salomé (1923), which was commissioned by Opera North and performed at the Barbican in London, Art Institute of Chicago, and beyond. Notable artist residencies and commissions include a 40 piece choral composition with Brooklyn Youth Chorus (The Receptionist), an interactive anechoic sculpture (Big Black Box), and a for pipe organ (Breathing Machine).

Her most recent full-length, Halo on the Inside, was released earlier this year on Matador Records and was met with effusive praise from Pitchfork, NPR, and The New York Times.

ALAN SPARHAWK

Alan Sparhawk has long been a prolific and versatile musician, a restless spirit constantly driven to explore new sonic and emotional landscapes. While he’s best known for his three-decade tenure as the frontman of the legendary band Low, his many side projects over the years reveal a musician unafraid to experiment with genres ranging from punk and funk to production and improvisation. Even within Low, Sparhawk never adhered to a singular sound or formula. The band was a dynamic collaboration—part dialogue, part romance—between Sparhawk and his wife, Mimi Parker, the group’s co-founder, drummer, co-vocalist, and its radiant, irreplaceable heart.

Now, as a solo artist, he’s delving deeper into experimental and intimate sonic spaces, combining haunting melodies with introspective lyricism that explores themes of love, loss, and resilience. Sparhawk’s recent solo work finds him experimenting with minimalism and ambient textures and at the same time marrying trap beats and production with vocoder-heavy vocal stylings. His live shows as a solo performer are known for their emotional intensity and intimate atmosphere, offering audiences a closer connection to his music.

Outside of his solo efforts, Sparhawk continues to collaborate with a wide range of artists across genres, always pushing the boundaries of his sound. His willingness to embrace both the delicate and the dissonant in his music keeps him a dynamic and evolving figure in the indie music world.

GHOST MARROW

Aurielle Zeitler’s patient command of atmospheric, shifting synthesizer tones and her intimately presented vocals are the cornerstones of her work. At the intersection of these two elements is a sort of magic. Zeitler’s earth + death — the third album under the moniker Ghost Marrow and the first for The Garrote — is patently breathtaking. This year brought earth + death interpretations, a remix album featuring collaborators including Emma Ruth Rundle, Ben Chisholm, and Andy Gibbs, expanding the record’s world through new sonic lenses. A new Ghost Marrow album is forthcoming later this year.

“Hypnotic and sombre in equal measure — a haunting, and occasionally terrifying illumination on the fragility of life.”

— Everything Is Noise

JOHNNY BELL

Johnny Bell is a Northern New Mexico-based musician whose work explores the banjo as a vehicle for expansive, progressive instrumental music. Working from within the American Primitive lineage but drawing equally from heavier experimental influences, Bell juxtaposes traditional technique with acoustic drone, recursive patterns, and layered sonic textures, foregrounding the banjo’s darker and more resonant possibilities.