The Face of Us, Smiling On Its Own

The Big Fuss Ensemble is the full band extension of Harry Irvine's solo project, Big Fuss. The Face of Us, Smiling On Its Own contains ten improvisations cherry picked from recorded monthly gigs put on in the shoebox basement of The Louisiana in Bristol. The Big Fuss Ensemble cover alot of ground in what could be described as a compendium release from this shapeshifting collective. This compilation of improvisations showcases furious drum workouts, doom laden drones, the sound of Bristol's inner-city trains, free-jazz skronk, through to meditative slowcore. The influence of the group's thirteen (ad infinitum) members is always present here but never opposes cohesion. Community music for the weirdos.

Speaking on the record Harry says “It was a beautiful year's residency of live recorded performances in The Louisiana basement studio, put together by The Big Fuss Ensemble and The Dolebury Warren Movement. We had put on a couple of our own shows upstairs and Mig (Pet Shimmers, Black Submarine, Portishead) at The Louisiana had really enjoyed them. He very kindly offered us the space for free with free reign, each show recorded with a studio engineer, and so we put on an intimate, recorded show every month, inviting different friends to join us for a few varying curated performances in front of a small audience. All of the music is completely improvised, or only with a delicately suggested starting point for certain performances.” Shortly after completing the record Irvine left their native Bristol to live in Glasgow to which they say “The future of The Big Fuss Ensemble is unknown but always has been. I am building new play groups always but this Ensemble is one that will be forever special to me. This residency shares a document of that love I have for them.

”RIYL: Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Valentina Magaletti, 75 Dollar Bill, Steve Reid Ensemble, Sun-Ra".