Arts & Culture
Unnatural Events occur in Oxford

Headlining Oxford’s Keble College October 19, pianist and composer Tom Millar debuts Unnatural Events on the innovative new label ‘Spark!’.

The original music, inspired by places and people important to Millar, is presented by his long-standing quartet, all of whom are also successful bandleaders in their own right - Misha Mullov-Abbado on bass, Alex Munk on guitar and Dave Storey on drums.

Millar said: “I was looking for musicians who would be musically supportive and versatile, with a deep understanding of what I expect to bring my compositions to life.”

Munk’s soaring guitar sound complements Millar’s piano playing perfectly, and both are able to stretch out over the rhythm section’s emphatic grooves.

Miller adds: “The unison melody written for piano and guitar for ‘Unnatural Events’ is deliberately played messily/independently from each other over the bass line - in the studio, Alex found an electric sitar and insisted on it being on the album instead.”

Singer/songwriter Alice Zawadzki joins the quartet for two tracks on the album, ‘Choro’ and ‘Inversnaid’.

She said: “‘Inversnaid’ was the first song with lyrics I wrote for the band. To my surprise I found this poem by the rather austere, Christian, Victorian poet Gerard Manley Hopkins.

“It really spoke to me with its environmentalist message and beautiful natural imagery, particularly apt in a current age where man-made global warming is going to completely transform life on our planet, even within our lifespans.”

The album also includes the soulful ballad ‘Park Hill’; rock-out anthems in ‘The Seafarer’, ‘Power Chord Thing’ and ‘Woad’; and ‘Azura Days’, a composition inspired by a trip around the Mediterranean.

Fo further information visit www.tommillar.com