Lewis Gill

Lewis Gill (born 1968) is an English composer and musician, who has worked in the contemporary classical, electronica, art rock and experimental music areas.

Career Early years (art-rock and experimental music) Born in Warrington in 1968 (and a long-term resident of the town's Latchford neighbourhood), Gill initially worked as an electric guitarist in a succession of Warrington-based projects, many of these alongside fellow guitarist and experimenter Ian Simpson. Gill and Simpson initially played together in the art-rock band Cheeky Atom (who released a single mini-album called Jodrell Bank, Here We Come in 1990, blending a fairly conventional guitar-based line-up with avant-garde experimentation including textural work and the incorporation of vacuum cleaners). The record gained the approval of Karlheinz Stockhausen, who wrote back to Gill after being sent a CD.

Gill and Simpson subsequently formed the electronic experimental improvising group Psychiatric Challenge. and collaborated with Lol Coxhill. Other group members included Harry Gallimore, Neil Packer, Misha Gray, Tim Lyons, Ollie Brice and Dave Jackson. Both Gill and Simpson were in the art-rock/noise rock project Sebastian, which released a lone album, Hew Hoppers Base, on CDr on the Burning Shed label in 2002.

Along with another Psychiatric Challenge collective member, Neil Packer, Gill formed the studio-based Vivahead project, who released a succession of albums on their own Pulper Music label during the early 2000s, inspired by abstract electronica, jazz and drum and bass. He also teamed up with Warrington fusion guitarist Tony Harn for two projects: initially Lifebox in 1998/1999 and then the experimental duo Resindust, who released one eponymous album in 2002.

Contemporary classical work In the early 2020s Gill made the switch from performing to full-time contemporary classical composing. ). A second volume, Parochial Chamber Works – Music Inspired by Warrington (Volume 2) was released on SoundCloud on 23 May 2024. It was preceded by another album, Redeemer, on 22 May 2024, of which Gill states "I like to think it sits in the middle of avant garde classical and prog. I suppose my use of odd time signatures and odd syncopations comes from Gentle Giant, [King] Crimson, UK etc. The textures and compositional techniques (occasional serialism, chance method etc.) come from Stockhausen, [Luigi] Nono and Webern. The repetitive nature of some pieces comes from [Steve] Reich and [Philip] Glass. It's a (hopefully) well balanced and maybe even innovative fusion of modern classical and prog." and Gary Barnett (at University of California, Riverside), both in early 2025. The string quartet version of his composition "Transit" was performed by the Bristol String Quartet in November 2025.

Gill's music has also been used to soundtrack films, including the British short film Flying at High Noon, directed by Ethan Prescott.

Influences Gill currently cites Arnold Schoenberg, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Steve Reich as his main compositional influences, as well as György Ligeti and Anton Webern. He was also inspired by the ambitions of 1970s progressive rock, having originally travelled from a teenaged love of King Crimson, Pink Floyd, Supertramp, Yes and Genesis to discovering Ligeti and then progressing to Webern and Stockhausen. It's Just Noise (with Lol Coxhill) (Electronic Musik, Em040, 2009) First Recordings (Electronic Musik, Em147) 45 Minutes for Hugh (Electronic Musik, no catalogue number) Noise Reduction System (Electronic Musik, no catalogue number) The Bracelet on the String (Electronic Musik, no catalogue number) Fraktured Culture (Electronic Musik, no catalogue number) Four Plus Five (Electronic Musik, no catalogue number) Why do We Talk ? (about half - life) (Electronic Musik, no catalogue number) Provocation of Sound (Electronic Musik, no catalogue number) Concerto for White Goods and Electronics (Electronic Musik, no catalogue number) "Echoes of Madges Kitchen" - contribution to various-artists compilation Sonic Planar Analysis: 01 (Stasisfield, SF-CD101, 2002)

with Vivahead We Love Infinity (Pulper Music, 2001) Lavatory Studies (Pulper Music, 2001) Slug (Pulper Music, 2002) Cosmic Dunce (Pulper Music, 2003) AWOL Umbrellas (Pulper Music, 2003) Puppet Thirst Meditations (Pulper Music, 2004)

with Sebastian Hew Hoppers Base (Burning Shed, 2002)

with Resindust Resindust (self-released, 2002)