Gene "Sxip" Shirey (pronounced "skip") is an American electric-acoustic composer, performer, and story-teller. Currently based in New York City, he is known for working with found objects, traditional and rare modified instruments, as well as computers and other electronic instruments. Shirey has released three solo albums, including ''Sonic New York'' in 2010. Shirey is a member of The Daredevil Opera Company and is a founding member of the band

Luminescent Orchestrii Luminescent Orchestrii are a gypsy punk band from New York City, whose music also incorporates elements of Middle Eastern, punk, and Appalachian music. The band's founding members were Sxip Shirey, Sarah Alden, Rima Fand, Julie Carney, Aaron ...

, as well as the band Gentlemen & Assassins. He is the host and producer of ''Sxip's Hour of Charm'', a variety show of cabaret acts.

Early life

Shirey grew up in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

. He graduated from

Ohio University Ohio University (Ohio or OU) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Athens, Ohio, United States. The university was first conceived in the 1787 contract between the United States Department of the Treasury#Re ...

, and having studied physics and folk guitar, he moved to New York in the late-1980s. He currently resides in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

Career

Bands

Shirey started experimenting with

found sound Found objects are sometimes used in music, often to add unusual percussive elements to a work. Their use in such contexts is as old as music itself, as the original invention of musical instruments almost certainly developed from the sounds of nat ...

composition and extended instrument techniques when asked to compose music for

's modern dance department. This eventually took him to New York City and he has been performing in venues ranging from underground clubs in

to a TED, to Europe and to the

Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue Performing arts center, performing arts centre in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive b ...

. A founding member of the band

in 2002, Shirey has released three albums with The Luminescent Orchestrii and one EP on

Nonesuch Records Nonesuch Records is an American record company and label owned by Warner Music Group, distributed by Warner Records (formerly Warner Bros. Records), and based in New York City. Founded by Jac Holzman in 1964 as a budget classical label, Nonesuch ...

as a collaboration between Luminescent Orchestrii and the

Carolina Chocolate Drops The Carolina Chocolate Drops were an Old-time music, old-time String band (American music), string band from Durham, North Carolina, Durham, North Carolina. Their 2010 album, ''Genuine Negro Jig (album), Genuine Negro Jig,'' won the Grammy Award ...

. Shirey is also a member of The Daredevil Opera Company.

Solo albums and scores

Shirey has released three solo albums, with the first in 2006. ''Statuesque '', a 2009 short film by

Neil Gaiman Neil Richard MacKinnon Gaiman (; born Neil Richard Gaiman; 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, audio theatre, and screenplays. His works include the comic series ''The Sandman (comic book), The Sandma ...

with a score by Shirey, Lily Percy of NPR wrote "The work stars Bill Nighy and is silent save for Shirey's haunting score — marked by an assortment of moody piano melodies, bells and chimes — which sets the tone for a dramatic take on a ''Mannequin''-esque love story." It was featured in an 11 part series for Sky TV in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. His 2010 solo album ''Sonic New York'', ''

Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers ...

'' wrote that "the collection of 17 pieces range from chanted poetry to raw blues to ghostly choirs to folk songs to a postmodern dance track and more."

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

reviewed the song "In Awe Of The City Skyline" in August 2010, describing it as "wistful," explaining that it "captures a singer's unique, complicated romance with New York City." The review also praised the duet between Shirey and Aimee Curl. He has had two songs featured as NPR's Song of the Day. One of his live performances at the time, which often feature Shirey recruiting audience members to assist with instruments, ''Huffington Post'' wrote "every noise wrung out of a piece of cheap plastic or kazoo or run through his complicated amplification, stood on its own and had something authentic to say about sound and its resonance with the human nervous system. It was experimental, but it was confident and real - definitely not ironic."

Performances

Previous performance highlights include featured presenter at TED, support act for Dresden Dolls US tour, Ashley Capp's Big Ears Festival,

Edinburgh Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

, Adelaide Fringe Festival in Australia, Floyd Fest, Joe's Pub,

The Knitting Factory The Knitting Factory is a nightclub in New York City that features eclectic music and entertainment and is co-owned and co-operated by Knitting Factory Entertainment. After opening in 1987, various other locations were opened in the United Stat ...

and

CBGB's CBGB was a New York City music club opened in 1973 by Hilly Kristal in the East Village in Manhattan, New York City. The club was previously a biker bar and before that was a dive bar. The letters ''CBGB'' were for ''Country, Bluegrass, Blue ...

in New York City. He scored five

silent film A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...

s such as "

A Trip to the Moon ''A Trip to the Moon'' ( , ) is a 1902 French science-fiction adventure trick film written, directed, and produced by Georges Méliès. Inspired by the Jules Verne novel ''From the Earth to the Moon'' (1865) and its sequel '' Around the Moon ...

" by

Georges Méliès Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès ( , ; 8 December 1861 – 21 January 1938) was a French magic (illusion), magician, toymaker, actor, and filmmaker. He led many technical and narrative developments in the early days of film, cinema, primarily in th ...

in collaboration with The

Museum of the Moving Image The Museum of the Moving Image is a media museum located in a former building of the historic Astoria Studios (now Kaufman Astoria Studios), in the Astoria neighborhood of Queens in New York City. The museum originally opened in 1988 as the Am ...

Queens, New York Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

. Shirey has played exploding circus organ for the Daredevil Opera Company at the Sydney Opera House and the Kennedy Center, industrial flutes for acrobats at The

New Victory Theater The New Victory Theater is a theatre (building), theater at 209 42nd Street (Manhattan), West 42nd Street in the Theater District, Manhattan, Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, near Times Square. Built in 1900 as the Republ ...

on Broadway, tamponophone with The Bindlestiff Family Cirkus at

Bonnaroo Bonnaroo (or Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival) is an American annual four-day music festival developed and founded by Superfly Presents and AC Entertainment. Bonnaroo has taken place at what is now Great Stage Park, a 700-acre (280 ha) far ...

hillbilly music ''Hillbilly'' is a term historically used for White people who dwell in rural, mountainous areas in the United States, primarily in the Appalachian region and Ozarks. As people migrated out of the region during the Great Depression, the term sp ...

for

gypsies {{Infobox ethnic group , group = Romani people , image = , image_caption = , flag = Roma flag.svg , flag_caption = Romani flag created in 1933 and accepted at the 1971 World Romani Congress , ...

Transylvania Transylvania ( or ; ; or ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjen'') is a List of historical regions of Central Europe, historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and ...

. In a band called Gentlemen & Assassins with another member of

Dresden Dolls The Dresden Dolls is an American musical duo from Boston, Massachusetts. Formed in 2000, the group consists of Amanda Palmer (lead vocals and piano; additional: keyboards, harmonica, ukulele) and Brian Viglione (drums and backing vocals; addi ...

Brian Viglione Brian Viglione (born May 16, 1979, in Greenville, New Hampshire) is an American drummer best known for his work with The Dresden Dolls and Violent Femmes. For a short time, he was also a member of New York City's cabaret punk orchestra The World/ ...

and Elyas Khan of

Nervous Cabaret Nervous Cabaret is an American punk-cabaret band from Brooklyn, New York, which formed in 2002. History The singer Elyas Khan's stage creation ''Fragmented Devotion To You'', an operetta he conceived, wrote, and scored the surrounding music f ...

. They performed a show at Theater Dortmund with

Sonic Youth Sonic Youth were an American rock band formed in New York City in 1981. Founding members Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar), Thurston Moore (lead guitar, vocals) and Lee Ranaldo (rhythm guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of ...

and

producer

Martin Bisi Martin Bisi (born 1961) is an American producer and songwriter. He is known for recording records by Sonic Youth, Swans, John Zorn, Material, Bill Laswell, Helmet, Unsane, The Dresden Dolls, Cop Shoot Cop, White Zombie, Boredoms, Angels of L ...

He is the host and producer of ''Sxip's Hour of Charm'', a variety show of cabaret acts. Hour of Charm regularly occurs in New York City, usually at

Joe's Pub Joe's Pub, one of the six performance spaces within The Public Theater, is a music venue and restaurant that hosts live performances across genres and arts, ranging from cabaret to modern dance to world music. It is located at 425 Lafayette Str ...

, but has been taken on the road to the

American Repertory Theatre The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) is a professional not-for-profit theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1979 by Robert Brustein, the A.R.T. is known for its commitment to new American plays and music–theater explorations; to ne ...

, the

Rothbury Music Festival Electric Forest is a multi-genre music festival produced by Madison House Presents and Insomniac Events, with a focus on electronic music and jam band genres. Originally named Rothbury Festival in 2008, it is held in Rothbury, Michigan at ...

and other venues. hirey also hosted and curated the multi-part ''Charm Sessions'' featuring live international music from NYC for Radio Scotland. Shirey has toured Ireland and Wales as a duo, "Sxip and Rhi" with

Rhiannon Giddens Rhiannon Giddens (born February 21, 1977) is an American musician known for her eclectic folk music. She is a founding member of the country, blues, and old-time music band the Carolina Chocolate Drops, where she was the lead singer, fiddle pl ...

of the Carolina Chocolate Drops.

Teaching

Shirey was invited to be a guest lecturer at the Norwegian Institute of Art in February 2012 and September 2013. The

English National Opera English National Opera (ENO) is a British opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with The Royal Opera. ENO's productions are sung in E ...

ran his workshop for young composers (and composing music for a short film) in March 2012. He has also run his workshop at

Trinity College, Oxford Trinity College (full name: The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity in the University of Oxford, of the foundation of Sir Thomas Pope (Knight)) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in E ...

England and for the animation department at Harvard.

Style and equipment

Shirey work utilizes found objects, traditional instruments, computer and modified instruments such as Industrial

Flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

Bullhorn A megaphone, speaking trumpet, bullhorn, blowhorn, or loudhailer is usually a portable or hand-held, cone-shaped acoustic horn used to amplify a person's voice or other sounds and direct it in a given direction. The sound is introduced in ...

Harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...

s, Regurgitated

Music Box A music box (American English) or musical box (British English) is an automatic musical instrument in a box that produces Musical note, musical notes by using a set of pins placed on a revolving cylinder (geometry), cylinder or disc to pluck ...

, Triple Extended

Pennywhistle The tin whistle, also known as the penny whistle, is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is a type of fipple flute, a class of instrument which also includes the recorder and Native American flute. A tin whistle player is called a whistl ...

s, Miniature

Handbell A handbell is a bell designed to be rung by hand. To ring a handbell, a ringer grasps the bell by its slightly flexible handle – traditionally made of leather, but often now made of plastic – and moves the arm to make the hinged cla ...

s, and other curious objects.

and

Amanda Palmer Amanda MacKinnon Palmer (born April 30, 1976) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and performance artist who is the lead vocalist, pianist, and lyricist of the duo the Dresden Dolls. She performs as a solo artist and was also a memb ...

made a musical instrument, called the "Sxipenspiel" for Shirey's birthday. It is made of a candlestick, pipe and bicycle bells. A sample of Neil and Sxip playing it features at the beginning of Shirey's former Gentlemen & Assassins bandmate Elyas Khan's single, "Bells".

Discography

With The Luminescent Orchestrii

*2004: ''Luminescent Orchestrii'' *2007: ''Too Hot to Sleep'' *2009: ''Neptune's Daughter'' *2011: ''Carolina Chocolate Drops/Luminescent Orchestrii EP ''

With Gentlemen & Assassins

*2012: ''Mother Says We're Innocent''

Solo albums

Compositions

References

External links

SxipShirey.comSxip Shirey
on

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

Sxip Shirey
on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

;Audio and video
Sxip Shirey
on

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online music distribution platform founded in 2008 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with an office and record store in Oakland, California. Acquired by Epic ...

Sxip Shirey
on

SoundCloud SoundCloud is a German audio streaming service owned and operated by SoundCloud Global Limited & Co. KG. The service enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is ...

Sxip Shirey
on

MySpace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...

Sxip Shirey
on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shirey, Sxip American male composers 21st-century American composers People from Athens, Ohio Musicians from Ohio American people of Albanian descent Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Musicians from Appalachia Ohio University alumni 21st-century American male musicians

Early life

Career

Bands

Solo albums and scores

Performances

Teaching

Style and equipment

Discography

With The Luminescent Orchestrii

With Gentlemen & Assassins

Solo albums

Compositions

Further reading

See also

References

External links