Matmos

Electronic duo Matmos perform excerpts from composer Robert Ashley’s TV opera, Perfect Lives, a story of bank robbery, cocktail lounges and geriatric love in the American Midwest.

Mixing classical composition with early electronic manipulation, Robert Ashley repackaged the opera format for a contemporary American audience. Synths, vocal effects and processed piano meet with quick and layered visual edits and an almost spoken-word delivery. Here, Matmos filter Perfect Lives through a modern electronic set up, with a small ensemble of musicians and video by M C Schmidt and Max Eilbacher – a performance that shows Ashley’s work is still as engaging and quirky now as when it was first written.