In 1910, the illustrator George Herriman created the Krazy Kat comic strip. Ignatz, a vicious mouse, was Krazy Kat’s arch enemy, and his favourite pastime was to throw bricks at Krazy Kat’s head (who misinterpreted the mouse’s actions as declarations of love). Belgian artist Bram Devens uses Ignatz as his alter-ego, and comes armed with his own pile of bricks; sparse, emotive songs born of the human condition, wrapped in effects, corroded by tape, driven forth by improvisation and spontaneity.
Ignatz’s songs stem from a familiar stripped folk framework, with Devens’ delivery recalling the louche primitivism of V.U. or Henry Flynt – but these songs sound inverted, cast adrift, their cool touch belying a stymied heat beneath the surface. Where Devens’ fretwork is adorned, it is executed with a refined coarseness. Autonomous loops entwine each other. Songs brush past percussion, bass notes, or a scant keyboard motif. A voice recedes from the heart of the song into a dislocated, cracked drawl.
Download press photo here (credit: Laurent Orseau).
News
- SHAPE+ announces 2023/2024 roster of artists
- SHAPE+ platform announces open call for 2023/2024
- Krazy Kat and the guitar: An interview with Ignatz
- October episode of SHAPE Radio on Resonance FM
- Watch: UH Fest 2016
- UH Fest: ‘Experimental music has become an economic category’
- Mix by Ignatz for Resonance FM
- SHAPE platform announces 2016 list of artists
Past events
