Tongue-Tied

Tongue-Tied (2007) first ever live-looped opera, directed by Emma Bernard, composed by Askew and Avis (Linbury Theatre, ROH), commissioned by the Opera Genesis programme at the Royal Opera House.

Last came Tongue-Tied, a purely musical ROH2 commission from a group called Askew and Avis, in fact a band of three, who create impressively layered jazz from just two voices and live-looping technology.

The plot was sweetly appealing: a couple whose teenage son never spoke, but stayed in his room, headphones on, twiddling knobs. The joke is that the vocal material he is processing is the result of his parents' anxieties about him (some of them very funny) and also of their marital discord.

Rebecca Askew

Tongue-Tied

Last came Tongue-Tied, a purely musical ROH2 commission from a group called Askew and Avis, in fact a band of three, who create impressively layered jazz from just two voices and live-looping technology.

The plot was sweetly appealing: a couple whose teenage son never spoke, but stayed in his room, headphones on, twiddling knobs. The joke is that the vocal material he is processing is the result of his parents' anxieties about him (some of them very funny) and also of their marital discord.

Clever, and nicely circular…

The Independent on Sunday