exlRuth's performance at Assembly 2024

exlRuth: Romeo's Fall

As part of Assembly 2024, exlRuth presents an original score, traversing romance and romanticism in a post-industrial North East England.

exlRuth's performance at Assembly 2024

Performed by countertenor Nik Rawlings with accompanying double bass from Caius Williams, the vocal composition sits within a sonic collage of field recordings and drones mixed live by exlRuth (Ruth Hughes).

Drawing from traditional forms of 12th century choral music, classical romanticism and Makina, a contemporary dance music genre local to Hughes’ native Sunderland, Romeo’s Fall leads the audience through a mythic, emotive landscape that reaches beyond the physical.

exlRuth is one of three recipients of Somerset House Studios’ Music and Sound Residency, a 15-month residency for experimental music and sound shaped by Somerset House Studios in collaboration with artist mentors Paul Purgas, Nkisi, and Gaika.