John Metcalfe

Played with my quartet on Jo Whiley's 'Live Lounge' yesterday with Just Jack with arrangements by Simon Hale. Jack was one of the nicest pop stars I've met! There is a film of it on iPlayer for the next seven days. www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/livelounge/artist/090401_justjack.shtml

On the bus this week with Mr. Doherty and Blur guitarist Mr. Coxon for some UK dates. Had some nice mentions in the press for my arrangements on his latest album 'Grace/Wastelands.

This summer I will be collaboarating and performing with Durutti Column for a piece called 'Paean to Wilson'. This is a major 70 minute work written in memory of Factory boss Tony Wilson who died in 2007. Performances are the 15th - 17th July inclusive and are part of the biennial Manchester Festival.

Just a quick reminder that the band are playing at Kings Place on Tuesday 24th March in Hall Two supporting the Bays. There may still be some tickets left......

Finally had time to update things. The MBM tour was a runaway success and contained so many memorable moments particularly playing to a packed Festival Hall for the last show. There are loads of YouTube clips posted so do have a look. Everyone was amazing - the Bays, Jules Buckley, the orchestra, Adam and the AV guys and all the crew did such an outstanding job. I have to single out fellow composer Simon Hale who night after night turned out the most incredible music. The man is bionic. We also did some great shows as the support - cds flying out the door and exceptional response which was a very lovely thing. I keep saying it but thank you to everyone who showed up.

So 2009 is looking nice and busy. I am currently working with a legend (can't say who yet) for a possible album release this year - very exciting. Tom Kursten's album which contains some of my work is also set for release on Real World Records and my collaboration with cellist Matthew Barley will be resumed now that his shoulder has recovered. Just at the end of last year I contributed some strings to Babyshambles' new album and I worked with Imagined Village's Simon Emmerson on his new project which was sounding very beautiful though I say it myself!

My involvement with Kings Place in London has picked up pace. Alongside the 2 concerts I have curated for the Spring series I am planning a 4-day festival in Hall One during early October. Early days but some exciting artists are already involved. More as soon as I have it.

Still some tickets left for tomorrow night's concert in Hall One at the delicious Kings Place in Kings Cross. We are playing a guitar quintet with Tom Kerstens followed by Schubert's sublime and intense 'Death and the Maiden'.

Last week 'As She Fell' was heard live on Radio 3's 'In Tune' programme presented by Sean Rafferty. It was played by Tom Kertsens G+ Ensemble and very lovely it was too...I didn't know about it till after the event but you can still hear it on the BBC i player.

I have several pieces on Tom Kersten's new album 'Utopia'' which is available on the Bowers and Wilkins Music Club website. This club is a partnership between Peter Gabriel's Real World label and speaker-makers B+W. There is also a video interview with me and Tom.
www.bowers-wilkins.com

Had some nice reviews for the album....

'This third album from New Zealand-born British composer and former Durutti Column and Duke Quartet member, is a woozy wedding of classical, electronica and ambient. String arranger by rock royalty appointment (Morrissey, The Pretenders, Blur) Metcalfe released his first album in 2004 and the fact this album is released by The Big Chill gives a good indication of where its heart lies. It's a gloriously schizophrenic collection, one minute lazily teasing out notes amid floaty atmospherics (opener Echo Valley), then jack-knifing into a 60's spy thriller set piece, heavy on brass and scratching (A Whole Day Nearer, Undertow). We're seven tracks in, at Nothing More True, before vocals arrive, and even then it's as a looped breathy syllable refracting back on itself. We don't get actual lyrics until an A&R-worrying ten tracks in, on You Call My Name, whose skittering beat mirror downbeat drum'n'bass'n'chillout duo Lamb. A wonderful wrong-footing of a music business built on the selling of vocalists as personalities'.
Eamonn Forde
The Word

'It seems that every man and his dog wants to be a film composer nowadays. Very few actually know what it takes, let alone have the understanding, poise and ability to create that kind of emotive resonant sound. String specialist and ex-Durutti Cloumn member John Metcalfe however is one such musician'.
DJ Magazine

'John Metcalfe made his name helping Vini Reilly to construct mesmerisingly ghostly guitar sculptures in the Durutti Column years ago, and has since established himself as one of the top string arrangers in Britain. His third album, though, owes at least as much to electronica as to classical.
One or two tracks engage in sub-Michael Nymanisms, but most of A Darker Sunset is that rare thing: ambient with an edge. Felt, Unseen deploys the repetition techniques of Steve Reich to create an awesomely lovely effect of twilight-after-rain, Parkstone is a dizzying trill of kaleidoscopic piano playing, and the stately beauty of The Shock of Recognition is only marred by an ill-advised synth line that wobbles along the track like a gaudy squiggle across a painting.
It would'e been easy for a man of Metcalfe's gifts to go down the more lucrative road of soporific chillout. Instead, this is imaginative and impressive'.

Jonathan O'Brien
Sunday Business Post

The Duke Quartet got this nice review from Tim Ashley in the Guardian for our performance of Steve Reich's 'Different Trains' at Kings Place.
'Hall Two is very different - a potentially more versatile and, it would seem, more popular - space, packed by a trendy crowd for a concert given by the Duke Quartet. Arvo Pärt's Summa, deftly and gracefully done, was followed by Steve Reich's Different Trains, a work for quartet and tape, in which the melodic contours of recorded speech form the basis of an exhilarating yet vaguely sinister portrait of travel and speed. Every lurch in tempo and volume registered thrillingly, and the response was enthusiastic'.

I didn't fully describe what an amazing day we had at Kings Place. Performing three different shows with only 30 minutes interval between each one to set up was intense to say the least but it was unbelievably exhilarating. Everyone played beautifully, the Duke Quartet, Max Richter and ensemble and all the musicians in my band. Full houses for all three shows made for a truly great afternoon.

Both the launch show at the 100 club and the 3 events of 'Beyond the Loop' at the opening day of Kings Place were fantastic. The venerable 100 club turned out to be the perfect choice. The band felt we gave one of our performances of the year and the crowd were brilliant. Thank you to all who made the effort to come and particularly to Dr. Alick Sethi and Steve Carnello for giving us the ideal atmosphere before and after the show with tailor-made tunes.
If you didn't make it to Kings Place then you must go! The venue has two stunning halls to play/listen in and the atmosphere is focused but very welcoming. There are some great concerts coming up with something for those who like classical/jazz/world or electronic music. The band is back in March supporting the Bays. Looking forward already.....

I am launching the new CD 'A Darker Sunset' at the 100 Club on Wednesday 24th September. DJ extraordinaire Dr. Alick Sethi of Electric Cafe and Retox Clinic fame will also be playing a set to intrigue your ears and warm your soul. The venue is London's famous 100 Club at 100 Oxford St.

We are on at 9pm with the full complement of Gangadeen, Friend, Richmond and Fuller plus a couple of guests. Tickets are only 8 quid.

The 3 events I have curated for the opening of King's Place have now sold out. Apologies to those of you who didn't manage to get tickets. There are still tickets available for the CD launch at the 100 club on the 24th September.