Cinema Versa Live: John Foxx - Cathedral Oceans

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Holy Trinity Church on Boar Lane
3rd November • 8pm

John Foxx has been at the cutting edge of electronic music since the late 70s when he was one of the first musicians to choose Brian Eno as a producer. Throughout his career John has always been interested in combining graphical imagery with his music and Cathedral Oceans is his most ambitious and successful marriage of these elements to date. This multi-media project, combining haunting harmonic structures with beautiful images of architecture and nature was designed to be performed in huge spaces such as churches and courtyards to create an interplay between architecture, sound and image.

'I like simple things. I like elegant solutions to a problem.' JOHN FOXX

Cathedral Oceans is partly inspired by Foxx's childhood experiences: 'I sang in a church choir when I was small and the way the different churches altered our performance always intrigued me. I've spent the rest of my life pursuing things I heard then - echoes, reverberations, architectural spaces and the human voice - plus electronic simulations and manipulations of both. I realised that with technology you have a cathedral in a suitcase.'

Over the last 15 years John Foxx has staged Cathedral Oceans in churches, botanical gardens and art galleries around Europe and it's formed a self-contained art exhibition at galleries in London and New York. The project has also been released as a series of CDs, Cathedral Oceans I, II & III, which will be followed by a full DVD release before the end of the year.

Reviews of Cathedral Oceans III (released summer 2005)
'It's a beautiful, beatless, Eno-esque encounter incorporating murmuring synths and a saint heart that'll ascend into the upper reaches of your soul if only you let it. A small slice of genuine spirituality for an all too cynical world. Enjoy.' DJ

'Music for statis; nothing much happens, beautifully. A huge wave of choral sound - part Gregorian chant, part wash of slowly evolving synth figures - unfolds with such quiet grace that it barely moves. Enjoyed together with Foxx's stunning 'moving stained glass window' landscape artworks, which can be found on www.officialcathedraloceans.com it all makes sense. Mojo

'In 2005 with the likes of M83 raising the the profile of the epic soundtrack, perhaps the world is finally ready to immerse itself in Foxx's ocean. If you think you might enjoy sitting in the biggest cathedral in the world while the likes of Eno, Budd, M83 and Foxx have some kind of string 'face off' while occasionally singing into angelic reverbs, then climb on to the board and prepare to jump in and join me. The water is simple divine darling . . .' Future Music

'Cathedral Oceans is exquisitely delicate yet powerfully moving, making one reach for the Stately Thesaurus For Pop Hacks. Ah yes, elegant, check; sweeping, check; majestic, roger and out. Sounding better than you would ever expect, if you relish music that has Harold Budd in tears, anoint yourself in this.' Record Collector

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