"COPIA" by People Like Us (Cutting Hedge SNIP003)
CD & Digital Download
People Like Us, the project of artist Vicki Bennett, announces the release of "COPIA" on June 7, 2024. This album marks the first new musical material since "The Mirror" in 2018, delving into the profound realms of existential collage and sampling, celebrating these forms as expressions of timeless connectivity.
The title "COPIA," meaning 'abundance' and 'copy,' reflects the essence of collage and sampling — art crafted not in isolation, but as a connective thread through time and space, linking ideas across generations in a seamless tapestry. By reconfiguring preexisting sounds and images, Bennett highlights the non-dual nature of creation — where distinctions between past, present, and future possibilities blur, revealing a shared foundation beneath. The album marks a return to not just solo works but collaborations with notable artists.
Drawing from the new People Like Us live AV performance, "The Library of Babel," sampling and edited sound collage, electronic music, combined with Ergo Phizmiz's lyrics and melodies, "COPIA" weaves and recombines a timeless blend of diverse elements that transcends traditional musical boundaries. This creative process unfolded through the exchange of multitracks across both water and ether. Collaborating with the voices, instruments and editing timelines of Matmos, Hearty White, Gwilly Edmondez, Lottie Bowater, Buttress O’Kneel, Douglas Benford, Irene Moon, Jon Leidecker, and Matt Warwick, the work evolved exquisite corpse-style.
"COPIA” will be available on Bandcamp as both a physical CD and digital download. Accompanying the release, live performances of "The Library of Babel" will continue both in the UK and abroad in the coming months, including potential live collaborations with Ergo Phizmiz and Gwilly Edmondez.
“Bennett has proven herself an alchemist of popular music, able to push her source material into fresh and engaging places. Where some artists hack existing instruments and technologies to create their new sounds, Bennett has circuit-bent the songs themselves.” - Spenser Tomson, The Wire Magazine
About People Like Us
Since 1991, People Like Us has been at the forefront of audio-visual collage, opening up endless opportunities to experience results that are more than the sum of the parts. Embedded in her work is the premise that all is interconnected and that claiming ownership of an "original" or isolated concept is both preposterous and redundant. Vicki Bennett’s project serves as a modern-day continuation of the collage tradition, highlighting the interconnectedness of all artistic creation.
- 1. Glass Onion
- 2. You Wish (Dark World Mix)
- 3. I Was Born, You Live
- 4. Happy Jam
- 5. Hymn to Collage
- 6. Nature
- 7. I Only Have I's With PLU
- 8. LSD Cha Cha
- 9. People Like Us, Ergo Phizmiz, M.C.Schmidt, Hearty White, matmos - Buzzby B
- 10. Fate Is Kind
- 11. Marais In Mercury
- 12. You Wish (Babel Mix)
- 13. Lester Plays Trumpet, Gwilly and Lottie Sing, Hearty Plays Organ, Douglas Plays Melodica
- 14. People Like Us, Ergo Phizmiz, Matmos, Lottie Bowater, Hearty White, Matt Warwick, WFMU - Camera Obscura
- 15. Music Alone