2 Years Stranger Alexandra Hamilton-Ayres

• Alexandra Hamilton-Ayres:
• 1 Sink Into Another World 05:54
• 2 Coma 03:55
• 3 More 04:23
• 4 In Out One 01:52
• 5 Waiting 05:30
• 6 Overflow 02:42
• 7 In Out Two 01:58
• 8 Dance 04:50
• 9 Through 06:52
• 10 One More 05:01
• Total Runtime 42:57

Info for 2 Years Stranger

Waiting’ is the first single to be taken from ‘2 Years Stranger’,the debut album by Bristol-based classical electronic artist and film composer Alexandra Hamilton-Ayres (Manners McDade). The album was written as a way of processing a very traumatic two-year journey.

This exquisite piece exudes emotion, from the first few notes the audience finds atmospherical elements waving through the delicate keys before a short essence of silence as the ambient undertones grasp beneath the initial intro. These subtle sounds swirl gaining momentum to the intricate arrangement and keeping the organic textures at the forefront of this composition before the harsher elements are joined once more with the contrasting keys fusing with the compelling rhythms and the overall soft haunting harmony.

In 2017, much like so many of us in 2020, Alexandra Hamilton-Ayres found herself in limbo. Her dad had fallen ill with ARDS, a severe type of respiratory failure, and sepsis. As a result, he was induced into a coma, to arrest the immediate failure of his organs. Alexandra found herself alone in her family home, her dad suspended in a state between life and death in France, surrounded by his possessions and a lot of time to ruminate of the fragility of life.

By way of processing the rollercoaster of fear, sadness, hope and alienation she was feeling, Alexandra started making recordings on her childhood piano, a musical diary of sorts. These recordings became not only a tool for healing but the beginnings of a bigger project. Despite not having the energy or brain space to do anything with them at the time, these piano recordings would eventually become her debut album, ‘2 Years Stranger’.

“When listening back to the recordings one day, I found that they told the story of those two years” says Alexandra. “Some I left really raw and some I reworked and recorded again. This then became the basis for making my debut album”.

Alexandra Hamilton-Ayres

Alexandra Hamilton-Ayres
is an award-winning film composer and classical electronic artist represented by Manners McDade. Having written music for theatre, circus, dance, opera and film, she is well versed in telling stories through music and visual collaborations.

Alexandra’s film scores have been screened at BAFTA and Oscar-qualifying film festivals and she has recently completed her debut feature score. She has worked with BAFTA and BIFA-nominated director Douglas King on Do No Harm (Creative Scotland) starring Sharon Rooney and Claudia Blakley, nominated for ‘Best UK Short’ at Raindance Film Festival. Known mainly for scoring drama and art films, she also worked on environmentalist documentary By the Water with LA director Kaelyn Maehara. In 2019 Alexandra scored a commission for the Barbican Centre, Divided We Scroll with director Klaas Diersmann and choreographer Pepe Ubera for which her score won an award for ‘Best Sound & Music’. She recently scored Charlotte Mungomery’s emotional film Until We Touch featuring violin by Anna Phoebe (AVAWAVES, One Little Independent) described by the Brisbane Times as “touching”. In 2020 she was also commissioned by the German Embassy and Goethe Institut to score a multi-cultural project for The German Choir of London. Alexandra was selected to be on the 19/20 BAFTA Crew x BFI Network and is an active member of the Alliance of Women Film Composers. She was also on the judging panel for the prestigious Ivor Novello Awards 2020 for ‘Best Original Film Score’.

As a solo artist and multi-instrumentalist, Alexandra plays instruments, live electronics and everyday sounds in her shows. Alexandra’s passions lie in the duality between the classical and electronica worlds, moving picture and her love for the piano. Her music has been described by The White Room Magazine as “majestic, at times monumental…the force and vastness of nature”. She has performed all over UK alongside artists such as Talvin Singh, Melissa Parmenter, Gabríel Ólafs, Mara Simpson, Throwing Snow and TSHA at venues and festivals such as Union Chapel, Butley Priory, Cheltenham International Music Festival, Brudenell Social Club and Bristol Old Vic. Alexandra performed tibetan bowl in Towards Silence for the John Tavener Memorial Concert. She was commissioned to write a dance track Prana for Fiya House at Sadlers Wells Breakin’ Convention 19, released featuring composer and vocalist Suvi-Eeva (HANNA series, Amazon Prime).

Her debut EP 19-88 released in 2019 and Where 2 featured on Nils Frahm’s 2020 Pianoday playlist. She released a rework album RE:19-88 that featured on BBC Radio 3 Unclassified and Soho Radio. As a keen collaborator Alexandra has released with several artists, collaborations including Fuchsklang Musik’s Phaebel, Mara Simpson, Frances Shelley, Freddie Prest, Perdurabo and Kezia Tomsett. Her debut album 2 Years Stranger featured on Tom Ravenscroft’s BBC 6 Music Recommends and BBC Radio 3 Unclassified, with lead single Waiting described by Mary Anne Hobbs (BBC Radio 6) as “a beautiful haunting track”.

This album contains no booklet.