Ex-Easter Island Head are a UK-based experimental musical collective composing and performing music for solid body electric guitar, percussion and other instruments. The group plays multiple electric guitars augmented through mechanical preparations and extended techniques, creating hypnotic performances rich in repetition, shimmering drones and melodic invention through purposefully limited means.
Ex-Easter Island Head are a UK-based experimental musical collective composing and performing music for solid body electric guitar, percussion and other instruments. The group plays multiple electric guitars augmented through mechanical preparations and extended techniques, creating hypnotic performances rich in repetition, shimmering drones and melodic invention through purposefully limited means.
Their records and live performances have received significant critical acclaim from the likesof The Wire, the Quietus and the New York Times. Favourably compared to the likes of Steve Reich, Glenn Branca and John Cage, the groups’ music has been praised for its mixture of percussive drive, emotional warmth and playful experimentation.
They have performed worldwide in venues ranging from the tiny Scottish island of Iona to a 150-year-old brewery in Berlin, with major festival appearances including ATP , Supersonic and Le Guess Who? Collaborators have included the BBC Philharmonic, composer Arnold Dreyblatt and musicians Laura Cannell, Charles Hayward and Andre Bosman in the group Whistling Arrow.
Their library music releases Mechanical Landscapes 1 & 2 released by EMI/KPM have seen the group’s work used internationally for television and radio productions, whilst the groups’ own Large Electric Ensemble projects have seen the core quartet joining forces with forward-thinking musicians to make ambitious large scale performances across the UK and EU.
The group’s latest album Norther (2024) was named album of the year by Europe’s leading independent culture website, The Quietus. An interview in the same year for The Guardian described their music as “amongst the boldest experiments in British music”. In early 2025 they were invited to perform four tracks in session on BBC R6 for Riley and Coe and subsequently invited by Robert Smith of The Cure to remix the song ‘Alone’ for their Mixes of a Lost World album.
