We are very excited to premiere “Devil and the Deep Blue Seethe” at Sound Symposium XXII, on Thursday July 16th at the LSPU Hall. Thank you to Nicole Lizée for writing this incredibly cool new work for us!
Devil and the Deep Blue Seethe
About
Loopstitch is a duo featuring violist Kate Read and sound engineer/multi-instrumentalist Michelle LaCour, frequent collaborators since their first artistic foray together during Sound Symposium XIX in July 2018. The two have since taken every opportunity to expand upon their creative efforts, exploring a sonic world comprised of amplified viola; looping, reverb, and delay pedals; synthesizers; and found sounds recorded in nature around Newfoundland and Labrador.
Loopstitch use many different elements as starting points to their improvisations: a look into detailed minutiae, a favourite chord or sequence, or something spontaneous. In 2021, the two began work on Kate's solo viola album, After (released November 2022 on Leaf Music), with Michelle acting as recording engineer and artistic collaborator on the album's final track, “Aftermath.” This album features Kate's performance of the J.S. Bach work that inspired Loopstitch's beginnings, and “Aftermath” serves to bring together baroque and electronic experimentation, the thread that weaves together the works on After. It is the unifying work on the album, the culmination of a year of experimenting and listening together.
Loopstitch has performed at numerous festivals and venues throughout eastern Canada including Electric Eclectics, Hold Fast, Freeze Brain, Sound Symposium, the Cape St. Mary’s Performance Series, and at the Canadian Music Centre. In 2024, they were awarded the Gerry Porter Award for Creative Improvised Music. In 2025, Loopstitch began working on live sound design for theatre productions, composing and performing the live score for Oderin, a new work of movement theatre, premiered at the Arts and Culture Centre in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. In 2026, they premiered a new work by Nicole Lizée, “Devil and the Deep Blue Seethe,” at Sound Symposium XXII. In 2027, Loopstitch will begin work on an album of original music.
Learn more about Kate: www.kateread.ca
Learn more about Michelle: www.michellelacour.com
Video
Check out our live performance at 62 Broadway for the Freeze Brain experimental electronic music festival [CLICK HERE]
news
Night Music #262
Night Music is an improvisational music series held on the third Thursday of every month at The Ship Pub. It begins with an hour-long performance that serves as the anchor for the evening, after which the stage is opened up to anyone with an interest in improvising. Host Craig Squires puts together inspired groups of musicians who jam until their sonic exploration reaches a natural conclusion. Bring your instrument and join in on the fun!
Loopstitch features Kate Read (viola & pedals) and Michelle LaCour (synths, accordion & electronics), frequent collaborators since their first artistic foray together during Sound Symposium XIX (July 2018). Their shared creative practice began as a re-imagining of J.S. Bach's violin sonata no. 3 and led to the pair exploring a sonic world comprised of amplified viola; looping, reverb, and delay pedals; synthesizers; and found sounds. In 2025, they wrote and performed the live score for Oderin, a new movement theatre work, at the Arts and Culture Centre in St. John's.
Jan. 15 // The Ship // 9:30 // $10
Night Music is supported by the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, and Recreation.
The Gerry Porter Award
Kate and Michelle were honoured to receive the Gerry Porter Award for Creative Improvised Music at Sound Symposium XXI. This award commemorates Gerald C. Porter (1962-2016), a talented visual artist, designer, and humorist who made an indelible impact on the arts scene of St. John’s, Newfoundland, his hometown. Gerry loved boundary-pushing music and was part of the planning for this award.
The Gerry Porter Award for Creative Improvised Music consists of a $1000 prize, and is intended for an individual, group or organization based in Newfoundland and Labrador that produces or supports challenging music created by the will and spirit of the practitioner, known as creative improvised music. All genres of music are eligible, as long as they meet the key criteria of creative improvisation.
Lawnya Vawnya Residency
Loopstitch is camping out at Lawnya Vawnya headquarters as the festival's artists-in-residence, March 2024! We're super excited to share what we come up with during this residency
Freeze Brain
Loopstitch hit the west coast for the Freeze Brain experimental electronic music festival in Corner Brook, February 2024
Hold Fast
Hold Fast contemporary arts festival is one of the coolest events of St. John's summer! We were so happy to play at their opening night event with Riddle Fence.
Summer Dates in Ontario
Thanks for the good times, Ontario! Loopstitch was happy to play at the Canadian Music Centre in Toronto inn support of Kate's solo album After on August 2nd, and Electric Eclectics in Meaford on August 4th.
Kate Read's solo album "After" released November 18, 2022
Massive congratulations to Kate on the release of her first solo album, After, on Leaf Music, released November 18, 2022. Artfully mixing Baroque repertoire with experimental electronics, After delivers a stirring mix of antiquity and modernity from one of Newfoundland’s most in-demand violists. Read takes listeners on a journey that entwines the purity of Bach with the chaos of electronic improvisation in ways equally surprising and satisfying. She’s joined on the last track, "Aftermath," by award-winning audio engineer Michelle LaCour, whose improvisational synth stabs and found effects provide a counterpoint to Read’s modern interpretation of Bach. After features two new commissions by composers Andrew Staniland and Benton Roark.
Pre-order After on the Leaf Music website
Listen to Kate's interview with Mark Wigmore on Classical FM