Leah Singer and Lee Ranaldo have collaborated on image and sound performances since 1991, exploring the intersections and possibilities between the two disciplines. Chance elements and juxtapositions are embraced; the drone of a guitar string and the flash of a film frame take precedence over any fixed exposition or overt narrative. The immersive experience invites a more personal interpretation. A suspended electric guitar in the performance space, un-tethered from the amplifiers, swings freely like a pendulum. Singer’s projected images mix with live shadow play created by the swinging guitar and Ranaldo’s presence onstage.

 

RECENT VIDEOS and STILL IMAGES:

 

s8 Film Festival, A Coruña, Spain
June 5, 2022

We spend a week at this analog-centric film festival on the northwest coast of Spain, watching small gauge films – 16mm, 35mm, Super8 – in a beautiful dark room at the harbor. It’s been awhile since we’ve sat in a darkened room w the projectors at read whirring in the background, sometimes silent films for 1 hour session. Old skool, old times. But many new visions and voices to be seen this week! We presented an hour of our films, and did a Contre Jour performance which closed the festival. Here it is.

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BELO HORIZONTE, BRASIL, 2012:

X AVANT LEAH SINGER & LEE RANALDO: CONTRE JOUR | Friday October 21, 2011
A brief video from the show:

NUIT BLANCHE, TORONTO 2010 – 12 HOUR PERFORMANCE:

LECCE, ITALY RESIDENCY, 2012:
We’re just back from 2+ weeks in Italy, Leah and I did big outdoor performance down in Lecce in the far south—had 2 gong players, 4 vocalists, cellist from Kronos Qtet, 3 lge screens and a “chorus” of 15 gtr players, and me w hanging gtr—was pretty amazing… texts by Brion Gysin… We went to Lecce, Italy on the invitation of Sound Res – a residency program for contemporary music and art, in southern Italy.