Musical minds combine for innovative Flit project – VIDEO

Some of the UK’s best contemporary musicians are coming together for a new project which will visit Lerwick in November.

Flit has been put together by Lau accordionist and composer Martin Green and features original music and stop-motion animation.

The project explores themes of migration and includes musicians from Portishead, Mogwai and The Unthanks as well as Adam Holmes, who is well known to Shetland audience.

Green said: “I started collecting stories of migration from my grandmother and that gave me a desire to explore the phenomenon of movement around the globe.

“I also wanted to create a large scale show, something with more dimensions than a gig and more alive than a film, with a dream team of collaborators. Flit has become a world for us now, surrounded by huge handmade animations that seem like friends and a meeting of musicians and artists which seem both new and immediately natural.”

Martin Green – Flit – A very brief introduction to Flit from Martin Green on Vimeo.

Flit, set within an animated world, is inspired by first-hand stories of human migration, from the heartwarming to the heartbreaking and features songs and original music by Green with lyrics from Karine Polwart, Anaïs Mitchell, Sandy Wright and Aidan Moffat.

Karine Polwart, Anaïs Mitchell, Sandy Wright and Aidan Moffat.
As well as Green and Holmes, the other musicians involved are Adrian Utley (Portishead), Dominic

Aitchison (Mogwai) and Becky Unthank (The Unthanks). The animation is done by Edinburgh-based, Bafta-winning writer/director duo whiterobot.

Flit will be premiered at Edinburgh International Festival before embarking on an eight-date UK tour. The visit to Mareel will be on Wednesday 2nd November.