PRESS RELEASE

On Saturday Feb 15th you can catch a rare double act by two of Lancaster's more unusual singer songwriters, Bronek Szerszynski and Steve Lewis - last seen performing together a few years ago in local band Naked Mask.

Bronek had a career as a guitarist in the 1970s and 1980s, spanning styles as diverse as art rock, jazz fusion, new wave, free improvisation and systems music. The last group he played in before coming to study in Lancaster in 1986 was the minimalist ensemble Regular Music, whose collaboration with the theatre company Lumière and Son in Kew Gardens was reportedly one of the inspirations for the Dukes Theatre's Promenades in Williamson Park.

He now teaches and writes on the philosophy and sociology of the environment and technology at Lancaster University, but during the past year has also been concentrating on song writing. "The kind of songs I'm aiming for are like short stories", he says. "I try to get each one to conjure up a self-contained world, with characters that behave in ways that seem strange but make sense in the world they're in. But it's all metaphorical, ways of exploring the complexity of the human heart."

After a few well-received short sets with this new material at the Spotlight Club at the Yorkshire House, this will be its first full-length performance. Expect to hear influences from Scott Walker, Jacques Brel, Leonard Cohen and Nick Drake, with well-crafted lyrics underlain by beautiful, intricate acoustic guitar playing with a Spanish tinge.

Bronek will be supported by Steve Lewis, arguably one of Lancaster's weirdest musicians. Steve is best known for his involvement in More Music in Morecambe and for being half of the Living Room improvising duo. His solo shows using voice, bric-a-brac and live sampling have been described as "bizarre", "magical", "startling" and "transcendental". But tonight is something different again - no special effects, just his voice and acoustic guitar (an instrument he plays like it ought to be a piece of percussion). He last did this some seven years ago - and it may be another seven years before he does it again. This time, Steve will be singing his own songs as well as settings of words from T.S. Eliot, Wallace Stevens, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Carl Jung and Rumi.

You can hear Bronek and Steve at the Golden Lion, Moor Lane on Saturday 15th February, from 8.30 p.m.