Video

13 May 2024

exlRuth: Romeo's Fall

As part of Assembly 2024, exlRuth presents an original score, traversing romance and romanticism in a post-industrial North East England.

Performed by countertenor Nik Rawlings with accompanying double bass from Caius Williams, the vocal composition sits within a sonic collage of field recordings and drones mixed live by exlRuth (Ruth Hughes).

Drawing from traditional forms of 12th century choral music, classical romanticism and Makina, a contemporary dance music genre local to Hughes’ native Sunderland, Romeo’s Fall leads the audience through a mythic, emotive landscape that reaches beyond the physical.

exlRuth is one of three recipients of Somerset House Studios’ Music and Sound Residency, a 15-month residency for experimental music and sound shaped by Somerset House Studios in collaboration with artist mentors Paul Purgas, Nkisi, and Gaika.

Film credits

    Director of Photography:

    Rob Akin

    Producer:

    Wes Gilpin

    Editor:

    Anna Dobos

    Colour:

    Rob Akin

    Sound:

    Harry Murdoch

    Executive Producer:

    Eleanor Ritter Scott

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