Simone Seales's Dearest

Join us to celebrate the launch of cellist, improviser, and poet Simone Seales's debut studio album Dearest.

The work will be performed live by Simone Seales (cello and vocals) and Mele Broomes (spoken word and vocals), along with live visuals created by Guri Bosh using artwork by Christian Noelle Charles.

Schedule:

6.30pm - Doors open / DJ set

7.45 - 8.30 - Simone Seales x Mele Broomes Perform Dearest

8.30 - 8.45 Intermission

8.45 - 9.30 DJ Set

Dearest merch (CDs, vinyl, zines, and posters) will be available for purchase.

About the album:

Simone Seales’s debut studio album Dearest is a poetry-music album inspired by the warmth, nostalgia, and tension of queer first love. Reflecting on a memory of the sunrise, Seales wrote Dearest as a way of honouring and releasing their first relationship from a decade ago.

While the album is grounded by the poetry, written by Seales and performed by Mele Broomes, the emotional weight is carried by the voice of the cello. Seales pulls sounds out of it which are rooted in classical technique and blended with the jarring groans, wails, and scratches of free improvisation.

A key inspiration for the album is Patricia Highsmith’s Carol and the movie adaptation by Todd Haynes - two works which showed Simone that queer love can be sensual, soft, and heartbreaking. Each track title is an excerpt from the letter which Carol leaves to Therese.

Having spent many years avoiding warm memories of their first love, Dearest acts as a vessel of multiple truths: love can be beautiful, it can leave behind scars, and it will all be okay.

About Simone Seales:

Originally from Florida, Simone Seales is a Glasgow-based cellist and performance artist. They focus on free improvisation, live looping, poetry, and devising music for theatre. Through their collaborative and creative process, they prioritize play, silliness, and connection.

Simone is passionate about exploring sound, how sound can reflect emotional states of being and how emotions are embodied. Their creative influences come from Black feminist leaders such as Audre Lorde, Assata Shakur and bell hooks. Within Simone's creative work, they centre Blackness, sexuality, intersectional feminism and anti-racism. They believe Western Classical musicians are capable of making meaningful social change.

About the space:

Listen Gallery is a dry venue. Please do not bring any alcohol onto the premises. There will be food provided on a first come, first serve basis.

Event Credits:

DJs: TBC

Music and Poetry: Simone Seales

Cello and vocals: Simone Seales

Spoken word and vocals: Mele Broomes

Visuals: Guri Bosh

Artwork: Christian Noelle Charles

Press Associate: Joy Parkinson

Marketing Consultant: Sofi Nowell