I’m now working with the classical and electronic music record label Big & Twigetti on some of their upcoming releases. The first is the latest single from composer Jim Perkins, titled Between the Sea and the Sky. It’s a beautiful track, so I’m very excited to be working on it. It’s also the first in a series of standalone tracks, so there is lots more to come.

You can read my press release for the single below. If you want to know more don’t hesitate to contact me.

If you’re a record label or artist looking for bio, press release or other copywriting for your upcoming projects, please do also get in touch.

Jim Perkins
Between the Sea and the Sky
Release date: 20th September

Composer and producer Jim Perkins returns with the first in a series of new singles, Between the Sea and the Sky. 

Written for 12 piece string ensemble, the piece is based on the sight and feeling of looking out to sea. Using each instrument to evoke the layers of that view, the piece includes random - or aleatoric - elements, allowing the players to interpret parts of the score, meaning no two performances are quite the same - like the sea and sky themselves. 

“Between the Sea and the Sky was composed in a very visual and instinctive way,” says Jim. “Each part represents a different aspect of gazing out to the horizon. There are high ethereal violins soaring above to evoke the sky and clouds. Turbulent and fluctuating trills and turns in the mid voices mimicking the wind. These are then regulated by a grounded and stable figure in the bass that imagines a vast ocean.”

“The piece grows very gradually as high and fluttering violins are added to little by little, followed by the violas and cello. Finally, the bass emerges, by which time the whole piece is moving in layers which surround and immerse the listener.”

“The whole piece is an exercise in gradual change and how small incremental changes can transform the piece into something bigger and more powerful than its individual elements. It mixes traditionally scored notation with some aleatoric elements where the players are encouraged to interpret the score in their own way. I like how the whole piece is continually changing and growing. It gives the sense of something powerful emerging and then gradually fading away.”

Jim’s fourth studio album Imprints was released in 2023. With four solo piano pieces as a centrepiece, each was then re-recorded one note at a time with double bass, cello, viola and violin - creating in a ghostly imprint of the original. Finally, both versions were combined, bringing new depth and feel to the original piece. Each version or the four pieces was included on the record, both deconstructing the compositional process and taking the listener on an enveloping journey. 

Having taken such a structured approach with Imprints, Jim wanted his next project to be more freeing, working on one composition at a time without a wider concept in mind. Leaving things somewhat to chance became the idea, the work linked simply by being created in the same space and time. They became a record of his life and mindset over the period they were created. 

“I like the idea of making something, putting it out then moving onto the next thing rather than releasing one album every couple of years,” says Jim. “When I create something and I'm excited by it, I want to share it whilst I am still enthusiastic about it. Releasing music regularly allows me to have more of a conversation with listeners about the music as it's released and as they engage with it.”

With over 400,000 monthly listeners on Spotify and more than 50 million plays across all streaming services, Jim Perkins is a growing force in contemporary classical music. Thoughtful and emotive, his work is layered and intricate but with a lightness that draws the listener into the music before opening it up to them. As an accomplished music producer as well, Jim incorporates the studio as a tool in his composition - using recording techniques both to ensure the clear delivery of his vision and also to create and manipulate sound itself. 

Jim is also the founder of independent record label Bigo & Twigetti, an innovative, forward-thinking company that adopted a digital-first approach long before the wider classical music industry embraced streaming. Shunning the perceived stuffiness of the genre, the label has always had something of a punk ethos to it, and is known for encouraging experimentation and creative freedom in its artists. This has attracted musicians normally found recording Hollywood soundtracks or touring with major rock bands to make the label their home and a place to stretch themselves creatively. 

As a composer, Jim’s work has been performed at The Institute of Contemporary Arts, The National Portrait Gallery, the South Bank Centre and Margate’s Turner Contemporary. His music has been streamed over 20 million times and has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 6 Music, NPR, WNYC and RTE. He has released four full length albums, Grains (2011), Constance (2015), Pools (2019) and Imprints (2023).

Jim Perkins: 
Website - Instagram - Twitter - Facebook - Spotify

Bigo & Twigetti: 
Website - Instagram - Twitter - Facebook - Spotify - YouTube - Bandcamp