The Scottish Album of the Year Award-nominee has composed a soundtrack for Guy Maddin's anthology of short films
The hope is that many more listeners have been turned onto the distinctive beauty of Ela Orleans' music after her nomination for the Scottish Album of the Year Award this year. For anyone who wants to hear her play live, this gig will offer a unique environment in which to do so; as part of Matchbox Cineclub, she's created a live score for Canadian director Guy Maddin's brilliantly titled 2003 film Cowards Bend the Knee, an anthology of short and disturbingly odd pieces he created for an installation at Rotterdam Film Festival earlier that year.
'Cowards is a cult classic by my favourite living director,' says Orleans, who is based in Glasgow but originally from Oświęcim in Poland. 'I've been voicing my desire to work with him and now it's happening. Each of his movies feels like a perfect home for my music, so I had no choice but to accept the call to do this.' It was Matchbox Cineclub who had the idea to pair film and singer, and who asked Maddin's permission. 'It was met with huge enthusiasm from Mr Maddin,' says Orleans. 'I became involved in a conversation with Guy, and I'm updating him on my progress.'
At the moment, she says, expect a solo performance with vocal, samples, violin and synthesiser, although that might change in future. 'If this project gets any interest from funding bodies, then I'm open to having an orchestra on stage!' says Orleans. 'The film is a melodrama bomb, so there will be a lot of twisted love, murder and revenge in there.'
CCA, Glasgow, Thu 21 Sep.