Robert Stillman
“Stillman is a composer with an innovative way of rethinking a creaky, generally neglected strain of Americana” UNCUT
Robert Stillman is a composer and multi-instrumentalist from the northeast United States, currently based in Margate, UK. His music juxtaposes the archaic with the futuristic, incorporating influences of Jazz, Minimalism, American Folk music, and experimental electronic music to create a sound described by the Guardian Observer as “lending an avant-garde shimmer to pre-modern American sounds.”
Stillman’s music takes the form of studio recordings (8 under his name), multi-media installations, and experimental radio broadcasts. His music has received praise from the Wire, Mojo, Aquarium Drunkard, Uncut, and Other Music, and has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 2, NTS, Worldwide FM, and WFMU, and included on playlists curated by Thom Yorke, M.C. Taylor (Hiss Golden Messenger), Bandcamp (Bandcamp New and Notable), and Norman Records.
He has performed his music at venues and festivals throughout the US and Europe, both as a solo act, and ensembles of various instrumentations, supporting artists such as Deerhoof, Hauschka, Yo La Tengo, Dirty Projectors, and Casiotone for the Painfully Alone/Advance Base.
In addition to his own music, he has contributed to projects led by artists including Dave Okumu, The Smile (Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, Tom Skinner), Grizzly Bear, Ghost Poet, Luke Temple (Here We Go Magic), Hiss Golden Messenger, Kit Downes, and Adem Ilhan. He is also part of the collaborative band Bog Bodies with drummer Sean Carprio and guitarist Anders Holst.
His recordings are released by Orindal Records (USA) and Kit Records (UK/EU), and he is published by Mute Song.