9 November 2026
As part of Pitchfork Music Festival London 2026, Hackney EartH donated their Theatre space to three of the most exciting artists in the ambient and experimental realm. If you haven’t been to the EartH Theatre before, it contains tiered wooden steps to sit on. The lack of movement meant little heat radiated from the community of attendees which strangely complimented the aesthetic throughline of the night.
First on was Joy Guidry, a bassoonist who played her instrument hauntingly, weaving her long, breathy lines around drones emanating from her laptop. Whereas Joy and Actress certainly appropriate ambient music in many ways, the second artist KMRU, is a stone-cold ambient musician. Amongst the layered feedback glistening like shards of sonic glass, at one point, KMRU brought in some vocals so ethereal that someone next to me let out a soft grunt – the ambient equivalent of a gunfinger salute.
Like the other two performers, Actress’ staging was minimal but with the addition of a projection screen. The visuals were monochromatic throughout (like most of his cover art) with a flickering, degrading white square firstly setting the backdrop to gentle feedback and sporadic percussion. Flashes of sung vowels emerged through the disconcerting soundscape as a barred cylinder of light entombed Actress’ sillouette hunching over his equipment. Projections evocative of the geometric configuration on the front of 2010’s Splazsh circulated the stage as a 4/4 kick was brought in. Bursts of noise followed the kick, rising in volume as genuinely blistering strobes strained the eyes.
A highlight was a percussive journey that started with scraps of breakbeats. These were slowly and deftly stitched together into a continuous line so that the attendees moved in their seats. It must be a triumph for Actress to make people dance sitting down, but it is even more of an achievement to make people move to such broken, warped, and erratic drums. Actress’ idiosyncratic use of drum patterns is what drew me to him originally; using stylistic blueprints of percussion as textural material (as opposed to rhythmic) comparable more to the use of drums in later twentieth century jazz than any dance genre.
The previous two performances generously authorised entranced states. Actress took more of a dictator’s approach to this sovereignty – only permitting you to enjoy reverie for short spells before abruptly pivoting to another sonic sketch. The tempo gradually increased for the last quarter, but this is not to say that changes in tempo for his full performance were incremental like a more traditional DJ set. They were often curt and otherworldly like he was manipulating space-time. To end, shattering snares developed into a bona fide techno groove, which faded to a whisper as he concluded.
After, I asked a couple who had also been at the show what they thought. They said: “in a world full of distractions, it’s rare that something makes you feel so enthralled”. I felt the same. Fully absorbed in the set, I had to keep reminding myself I was there to review it. There may be something resonant with today’s zeitgeist in entrancing people with music that paralyses with its sporadicity. But him managing to do this is, in itself, a paradox that proves Actress’ mastery.
Words: Charlie Edmondson
Photography: Sam Huddleston