The Wasp Factory
by Ben Frost
Stephen Savage
Stephen Savage
This is one of the most interesting, unique, and emotionally compelling works of opera/musical theatre I've ever had the pleasure of hearing! It is sublime. Thank you, Ben and all the musicians involved for such an amazing performance. 🏆
Favorite track: The Bomb Circle.
Paul Wolf
Paul Kontaratos
andrei-spartak
daigo_sound
lavenderlotte
floodplains
Tuukka Junnikkala
Nicholas Tash
Tet Kodama
bregok
Natalia
bloodredhorizons
Austin Bradley
Alexander Chapman
taurus_dfc
lovely_bertie
Christopher F Smith
Mathew Gomes
yas8s
Stephen Gallagher
sunburnt landlord
mischa kreiskott
craftyswedishkrabboss
Theo
Smalloranges Lee
soulchap
Tenchi
Lesley Reed
Emilia Marjore Graunerre
brecko
YSSAC
k3x7
Tom Prayne
Edward Hyde-Page
Lukas Koenig
savvvvvvv
lukasfanofmusic
simon ramsey
Frogpest
jamesacaster
som3onemw
anotherbof
Mikael Persson
ilkkavesavaara
etienne martinez
igor imbu
heike_ghost
mazalov
Carlos Cordeiro
Ren67
VCRDRP
dogvanya
acb
JP
Too Hands
Souterrain
hunterbroderick
Cliff
manonsansoucy
studiofs
-
Record/Vinyl + Digital AlbumEstimated shipping: April 1st, 2017
Includes unlimited streaming of The Wasp Factory via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.ships out within 5 daysPurchasable with gift card€17.99 EUR or more
-
-
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital AlbumIncludes unlimited streaming of The Wasp Factory via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.ships out within 2 daysPurchasable with gift card
€14.99 EUR or more
-
-
Streaming + DownloadIncludes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.Purchasable with gift card
€9 EUR or more
1. |
The Wasp Factory
01:30
|
|||
2. |
||||
3. |
Death, No less
04:56
|
|||
4. |
Low Tide
00:27
|
|||
5. |
Blyth
05:09
|
|||
6. |
||||
7. |
High Tide
01:00
|
|||
8. |
||||
9. |
What Happened To Me
02:56
|
|||
10. |
You Don't Have To Sleep
03:47
|
|||
11. |
Stormfront
02:09
|
|||
12. |
The Bomb Circle
07:52
|
|
||
13. |
Esmeralda
04:53
|
|||
14. |
Eric Is Getting Nearer
02:44
|
|||
15. |
Inferno
06:10
|
about
In advance of new music from Ben Frost in 2017, Bedroom Community is excited to present the definitive recorded version of his 2013 opera and directorial stage debut, The Wasp Factory, based on the novel by the late Iain Banks.
Setting his unwitting characters against the backdrop of vast, implacable forces of nature—storm, sea, fire, and even their own madness— Frost reaches deep into his formidable arsenal to reveal an unexpected warmth, from the composer of electronic experiments like AURORA and Theory of Machines. The focus here is on the live sound of the Reykjavík Sinfonia, recorded in Abbey Road’s Studio II and, for the first time, the human voice. He sets David Pountney's Libretto to tuneful, even soulful vocal lines; an extraordinarily unreliable narrator describing scenes of extreme violence and horror in music of incongruous loveliness.
Rather than attempt to represent his protagonist onstage with a singing, acting boy, Frost infamously cast an ensemble of 3 women to give voice to his dissociated internal monologues: Lieselot De Wilde, Jördis Richter and Wildbirds & Peacedrums' own Mariam Wallentin. And just as he did with the highly detailed instrumental writing on his albums like AURORA or Sólaris (composed with Daníel Bjarnason), here Frost creates a seamless collaboration of performer and interpreter, each singer and each player fully and sensitively inhabiting their respective nuanced parts. And the recorded result defiantly stands apart from the realm of traditionally “classical recordings”, framing in the highest definition every moment of this studio performance - the confrontationally close breath of strings and vocalist alike push and pull against a range of digital shapes and textures.
The Wasp Factory is not too far from those albums in terms of continuity with Frost's thematic obsessions. Like Sólaris, which was inspired by another so-called "sci-fi" novelist's literary masterpiece, The Wasp Factory asks what it means to be a human being, and what happens when that human being gets lost in the labyrinth of his own psyche. And like AURORA, and By the Throat, it asks where—and whether—the boundary can be drawn separating the human animal from the terrible, destructive brutality of nature.
Setting his unwitting characters against the backdrop of vast, implacable forces of nature—storm, sea, fire, and even their own madness— Frost reaches deep into his formidable arsenal to reveal an unexpected warmth, from the composer of electronic experiments like AURORA and Theory of Machines. The focus here is on the live sound of the Reykjavík Sinfonia, recorded in Abbey Road’s Studio II and, for the first time, the human voice. He sets David Pountney's Libretto to tuneful, even soulful vocal lines; an extraordinarily unreliable narrator describing scenes of extreme violence and horror in music of incongruous loveliness.
Rather than attempt to represent his protagonist onstage with a singing, acting boy, Frost infamously cast an ensemble of 3 women to give voice to his dissociated internal monologues: Lieselot De Wilde, Jördis Richter and Wildbirds & Peacedrums' own Mariam Wallentin. And just as he did with the highly detailed instrumental writing on his albums like AURORA or Sólaris (composed with Daníel Bjarnason), here Frost creates a seamless collaboration of performer and interpreter, each singer and each player fully and sensitively inhabiting their respective nuanced parts. And the recorded result defiantly stands apart from the realm of traditionally “classical recordings”, framing in the highest definition every moment of this studio performance - the confrontationally close breath of strings and vocalist alike push and pull against a range of digital shapes and textures.
The Wasp Factory is not too far from those albums in terms of continuity with Frost's thematic obsessions. Like Sólaris, which was inspired by another so-called "sci-fi" novelist's literary masterpiece, The Wasp Factory asks what it means to be a human being, and what happens when that human being gets lost in the labyrinth of his own psyche. And like AURORA, and By the Throat, it asks where—and whether—the boundary can be drawn separating the human animal from the terrible, destructive brutality of nature.
credits
released December 9, 2016
THE WASP FACTORY
Music by Ben Frost
Libretto by David Pountney
Based on the original novel “The Wasp Factory” by Iain Banks
Commissioned by Art of our Times/Bregenz Festival
A co-production between HAU Hebbel am Ufer and Laura Berman_Next, Berlin, and The Royal Opera and Holland Festival in collaboration with Cork Midsummer Festival
With support from Capital Cultural Fund Berlin and Nordic Culture Point
Music produced by Ben Frost & Paul Corley
Written by Ben Frost
with Helgi Hrafn Jonsson, Mariam Wallentin, Lieselot De Wilde & Jördis Richter
Performed by Mariam Wallentin, Lieselot De Wilde & Jördis Richter
and
Reykjavík Sinfonía
Una Sveinbjarnardóttir, Gunnhildur Daðadóttir, Þórunn Ósk Marínósdóttir, Hrafnkell Orri Egilsson & Borgar Magnason
Solo Viola arrangements based on the work of Nadia Sirota
String arrangements by Daníel Bjarnason, Nico Muhly, Petter Ekman and Ben Frost
Conducted by Daníel Bjarnason
A boy’s voice by Julian Dudley, Max & Sam Houghton
Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London and Greenhouse Studios, Reykjavík
by Daniel Rejmer, Valgeir Sigurðsson & Paul Evans
Programming, editing and sound design by Paul Corley, Paul Evans & Ben Frost
Mixed and Mastered by Valgeir Sigurðsson
THE WASP FACTORY
Music by Ben Frost
Libretto by David Pountney
Based on the original novel “The Wasp Factory” by Iain Banks
Commissioned by Art of our Times/Bregenz Festival
A co-production between HAU Hebbel am Ufer and Laura Berman_Next, Berlin, and The Royal Opera and Holland Festival in collaboration with Cork Midsummer Festival
With support from Capital Cultural Fund Berlin and Nordic Culture Point
Music produced by Ben Frost & Paul Corley
Written by Ben Frost
with Helgi Hrafn Jonsson, Mariam Wallentin, Lieselot De Wilde & Jördis Richter
Performed by Mariam Wallentin, Lieselot De Wilde & Jördis Richter
and
Reykjavík Sinfonía
Una Sveinbjarnardóttir, Gunnhildur Daðadóttir, Þórunn Ósk Marínósdóttir, Hrafnkell Orri Egilsson & Borgar Magnason
Solo Viola arrangements based on the work of Nadia Sirota
String arrangements by Daníel Bjarnason, Nico Muhly, Petter Ekman and Ben Frost
Conducted by Daníel Bjarnason
A boy’s voice by Julian Dudley, Max & Sam Houghton
Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London and Greenhouse Studios, Reykjavík
by Daniel Rejmer, Valgeir Sigurðsson & Paul Evans
Programming, editing and sound design by Paul Corley, Paul Evans & Ben Frost
Mixed and Mastered by Valgeir Sigurðsson
license
all rights reserved
tags
about
Ben Frost
The music of Ben Frost is about contrast; influenced as much by Classical Minimalism as by Punk Rock and Metal, Frost's throbbing guitar-based textures emerge from nothing and slowly coalesce into huge, forbidding forms that often eschew conventional structures in favor of the inevitable unfoldings of vast mechanical systems. ... more
discography
-
May 2023 -
Mar 2023 -
Dec 2022 -
Nov 2022
contact / help
Ben Frost recommends:
-
Draumalandið
by Valgeir SigurðssonValgeir's 'Dreamland' album has just been issued on vinyl for the first time ever, and restocked on CD. Features contributions from Ben Frost, as well as Nico Muhly and Sam Amidon.
go to album -
Paul Corley is one of Ben's close collaborators and co-producer of A U R O R A. This is his debut solo album, not to be missed!
go to album -
Campari anyone?
go to album
If you like Ben Frost, you may also like:
-
Everywhere at the end of time
by The Caretakersupported by 35 fans who also own “The Wasp Factory”
This is one of the best albums i've ever heard. I swear, I will never hear anything like it again. Don't tell anyone but I cried the first time I heard it.
go to album -
supported by 31 fans who also own “The Wasp Factory”
Listening to a Tim Hecker album is rarely ever a time to skip between songs or chose one track in the middle to start things off. Saying that, This Life is a perfect way to begin this audio experience. What I love most about this album though is how Tim seems to be evolving as a musician, patiently honing his skills, and fine tuning his craft. His works improve with each progressive album, while new experiments are woven into the tracks, he still manages to retain his signature sound.
go to album -
The artist's latest masterwork of ambient, drone, and opera explores the effect of time and iteration on memory, emotion, and meaning.
go to album
