Walking in a winter wonderland

I've never been one for carols, so participating in the Oxford debut of Phil Kline's 'Unsilent Night' a couple of weeks ago was a welcome alternative - a collective stroll around the city in the dark carrying a portable sound sculpture.

If that all sounds a bit pretentious, then it shouldn't - Kline's composition is avant-garde, yes, but also rich with warmth and festive feeling, with its glowing ambient washes, twinkling electronics and gently chiming bells. It's similar to but even more ambitious than the Flaming Lips' legendary Zaireeka, constructed of multiple pre-recorded parts which are played on an array of ghetto blasters and sound systems. Reverberating in Oxford's narrow stone passageways, the music animates a city that too often seems like a petrified museum to the past.

Thanks to Matt, who came across it last December in New York (where it's become something of an institution) and who approached Oxford Contemporary Music with the idea of "performing" it closer to home. Click here to witness the performance in action, and here for a review of the event on the Music In Oxford site.