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An Intimate Evening with Jason Isbell

Six-time GRAMMY-award-winning singer Jason Isbell brings a night of self-confessional storytelling to a solo performance in the Barbican Hall.

Jason Isbell is a storyteller at the peak of his craft, observing his fellow wanderers, looking inside and trying to understand, reducing a universe to four minutes in the process. His latest album, exploring both character study and nuanced storytelling, features the rolling thunder of Isbell’s band the 400 Unit, who’ve earned a place in the rock ‘n’ roll cosmos alongside the greatest backing ensembles. The evening at the Barbican in February, though, is a rare chance to see him perform solo, revealing his songs in intimate and unvarnished detail.

The North Alabama native possesses an incredible penchant for identifying and articulating some of the deepest, yet simplest, human emotions, and turning them into beautiful poetry through song. Isbell sings of the everyday human condition with thoughtful, heartfelt, and sometimes brutal honesty.

Produced by the Barbican in association with AEG

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Daniel Brandt: Without Us

+ Tristan Perich & Ensemble 0: Open Symmetry

Composer, drummer and filmmaker Daniel Brandt, of Brandt Brauer Frick, returns to the Barbican in 2025 for a special evening of new music in two halves. Beginning with Ensemble 0, the French contemporary music ensemble willperform Open Symmetry - the latest work by contemporary composer Tristan Perich - before Brandt presents his new project: Without Us. 

Daniel Brandt’s third full-length solo album, Without Us, is set to be released on Erased Tapes in spring 205 and will feature long-term collaborators Anne Müller on cello, Pascal Bideau (aka Akusmi) on guitar, Florian Juncker on trombone, and Japanese vocal artist Hatis Noit. The work is accompanied by a short film with the same title, written and directed by Brandt and Anthony Dickenson, filmed in Athens in 2023. The full project – album, film, and live performance – will premiere as an immersive experience at Barbican Hall on April 24, 2025, culminating in an “apocalyptic rave” that explores our collective anxieties and challenges in a multi-dimensional way.

In the first half of the evening at the Barbican, French contemporary music ensemble Ensemble 0 will bring a trio to the Hall to perform a new expansive work by Tristan Perich, the New York-based composer. The work, Open Symmetry (released as an album on Erased Tapes in June 2024) is a 50-minute work for 3 vibraphones (performed by Ensemble 0 members Stéphane Garin, Julien Garin, and Alexandre Babel) and 20-channel 1-bit electronics. Open Symmetry is about precision and energy – a piece that slowly develops, with musical fragments lengthening, harmonies merging, overlapping and washing over like soothing waves. 

First half performers:

Tristan Perich 20-channel 1-bit electronics

Stéphane Garin vibraphone

Julien Garin vibraphone

Alexandre Babel vibraphone

Commissioned by ensemble 0, Festival Variations - Lieu Unique

Production by ensemble 0 / Eklekto

Co-production by G.M.E.A, MÉCA-OARA, Festival Variations - Lieu Unique

Second half performers:

Daniel Brandt drums & synthesizer

Akusmi guitar & synthesizer

Fabian Prynn drums

Florian Juncker trombone

Daniel Brandt & Anthony Dickenson directors

Praise for Open Symmetry:

“Tristan Perich’s music is stunningly simple in all its complexity. It can initially be like a nervous meditation session but eventually it makes a beautiful, impeccable sense.” – The Wire

“It’s a beautiful, enriching record” – DJ Mag

"The music swerves between meditative grace, needling intensity, and almost psychedelic grandeur.” – Bandcamp Daily

Generously supported by Trevor Fenwick and Jane Hindley.

Produced by the Barbican

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