Paul Abbott plays with the drum kit, synthetic sounds, performance and writing. He explores music as an ecology: in which the interaction of sounds, signs and the physical body grow real and imaginary music. His work is often concerned with creating practical and fictional structures to facilitate improvisation and experimental musical play.
Supervised by Nikki Moran and Florian Hecker, Paul Abbott recently completed Creative Music Practice PhD research at Edinburgh University, titled “Playing no solo imagination: synthesising the rhythmic emergence of sound and sign through embodied drum kit performance and creative writing.”
Recent and ongoing collaborations include: XT with Seymour Wright; XT+Anne Gillis; F.R.David, very good* with Will Holder; sound design for Keira Greene; Rian Treanor Duo; RP Boo Trio with XT; The Creaking Breeze Ensemble with Nathaniel Mackey, Ute Kanngießer, Evie Ward, Seymour Wright and Billy Steiger; yPLO with Micheal Speers and performances with Cara Tolmie.
Paul Abbott has performed internationally at Cafe OTO, Talbot Rice Gallery, Whitstable Biennale, Whitechapel Gallery, Raven Row, Tate Modern, Counterflows, Next Festival, KW Institute Berlin, Serralves Porto, Empty Gallery HK. He has records released by OTORoku, Empty Editions, Pleasures of The Text, and published with Cesura//Acceso and F.R.David. Residencies include Cafe OTO, KW Institute, Empty Gallery.
Recent releases include: solos Nsular, Ductus; XT Deorlaf X, Palina’Tufa; Creaking Breeze Ensemble & Nathaniel Mackey Fugitive Equation; F.R.David very good*; RP Boo Trio 31.12.18. He was one of the co-editor’s of Cesura//Acceso and a Sound and Music “Embedded” resident artist at Cafe OTO 2015-2016. www.paulabbott.net