Keir Vine Instance

Instance' is an 8 track EP conceived by Keir whilst in residency in the bucolic surroundings of Suffolk and completed in his London based studio. Using unlocked village churches Keir took the opportunity to make a series of recordings that established the overall feeling for the compositions. It is this sense of crystalised moments and chance that directed the continuing ethos of the work. A number of highly personal field recordings found their way on to the record. A sung stream of consciousness from a friend directly after an epileptic seizure, a local East End Jewish Ice cream van that makes the rounds locally, to the healthy rhythm of a heartbeat whilst in Homerton hospitals maternity ward. Instance is imbued with memory, and the feeling of remembering. The loss that makes a life. Keyboard drones and long patient chords shift gradually. It is a record that constructs place. Reverb and natural acoustics deliver the listener into a highly considered idiosyncratic sound world. Contemplative piano chords ring out amidst field recordings, a female voice evokes from a distance that obscures clarity whilst a sense of captured patience laments. There are touches of Satie, Ghost box and Max Richter. Those musicians who place equal importance to atmosphere, setting and emotive suggestion. Keir Vine is best known to many as the keyboard and Hang player from the Mercury Prize nominated band Portico Quartet. He has composed and arranged music for both film and theatre as well as produced sound pieces for art gallery installations. He also co-operatively runs a studio space in Hackney by the name of Studio 9.