Cryptic Nights: Why Scotland, Why East Kilbride

Following Ted the Trumpet’s performance in Bare Wires (Cryptic Nights), the neglected pioneer of Light Music Electronica returns to CCA with a live rock band. Taking its title from a 1970’s East Kilbride Development Corporation infomercial, this new work by composer J. Simon van der Walt enters the imagined mind of Edward ‘Teddy’ Edwards.

Technology, modernity, science and science fiction are explored in works such as The Whirlies, for strings and electro-junk improviser; The Black Rain, for amplified string quartet, with live computer processing, and Dr Mueller? Dr Muller!? Oh Boy for clarinet and acoustic laptop. At the heart of the piece is a musical fragment which came to the composer in a dream: a four-bar phrase for a large orchestral horn section accompanied by a rock band. To recreate this sound, a live double rock band is coming together especially for this Cryptic Nights performance.

Cryptic Nights was launched in 2009 as a regular event that provides a platform for emerging artists to engage with a local, supportive audience. Crossing a variety of different media, from live music to film, visual and sonic art, Cryptic Nights presents boundary-pushing artworks by some of today’s most creative emerging artists. Since its beginning, Cryptic Nights has presented over 190 artists at CCA and has become a well-known institution within the Scottish art calendar.

“A popular night [that] has become a well-honed stomping ground for creative types.”
The List