Kevin Figes - Wallpaper Music

Multi-instrumentalist, composer and educator Kevin Figes' album, 'Wallpaper Music', features Brigitte Beraha on vocals, Jim Blomfield on keyboards, Ashley John Long on bass and Mark Whitlam on percussion. The recording follows Figes' critically acclaimed quartet release 'Changing Times' and features eight original compositions written during lockdown. A mind-expanding feast for the ears Dave Gelly, The Observer.

I was particularly inspired by the band 'Henry Cow' and its offshoots and also a lot of contemporary classical music (Stockhausen, Berio etc), explains Figes. I wanted to use bigger structures with sections that did not repeat, and that were precisely written, contrasted with sections that were completely freely improvised. I also heard the voice as an integral part of that and enjoyed trying to express myself through the text. Other ideas involved using more sounds (saxes, flutes, keyboard sounds, spoken word) and inventing my own scales, harmonies and rhythmic structures. Kevin Figes