Billy Bragg's 'Pressure Drop' Opens in London

Posted on Apr 20th 2010 11:00AM by Farah Ishaq
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Billy Bragg debuted new songs on Monday April 19 as part of 'Pressure Drop,' a new performance work made in collaboration with award-winning artistic director Mick Gordon.

Taking place at the Wellcome Collection in central London, the previously announced "part play, part gig, part drama of passion and prejudice exploring the English psyche," is one of a series of events being held for the venue's nine month 'Identity Project.'

Politically charged singer-songwriter Bragg told BBC 6 Music that there was a good chance he would debut even more new tracks each night. He said, "Five days before the thing begins, I'd usually have all the words written... the opportunity to put stuff in that's incredibly topical will be too much for me to resist."

Described in the programme notes as aiming to present "three generations of a white, working-class English family struggling to define themselves -- both in relation to one another and within a changing social landscape," 'Pressure Drop' has given Bragg a chance to work with a new concept.

He explains, "I'm merely providing, with my musicians -- songs that help to join the dots for the characters -- to add ideas to the play. The songs aren't really as polemical as normal polemical Billy Bragg songs."

The 90-minute piece sees the gig and play take place on different stages with the audience walking between the two. Bragg concluded, "My job as a songwriter is to communicate with people and to offer them a different perspective."

'Pressure Drop' runs until May 12, with post-show Q&As with Bragg and Gordon taking place on April 29 and May 6. You can watch a trailer for 'Pressure Drop' here.

After 'Pressure Drop' ends, Bragg is to take up work on curating and developing the concept for this year's resurrected Left Field tent at this year's Glastonbury festival.