Beautiful Noise presents: April + VISTA

In this month’s listening session, Beautiful Noise invites April + VISTA to present their latest body of work “Traditional Noise”. The evening will begin with a DJ set from the amazingly talented Niara Sterling. Her sound is the sonic synchronicity of what Beautiful Noise embodies. An immersive evening of sound, storytelling and grooves that will move your body and mind. April + VISTA is the musical project of the Virginia-raised singer / composer April George and the Maryland-raised composer / producer Matthew Thompson. In a decade-plus of activity, the duo garnered international acclaim with an oeuvre both deeply invested in excavating the impacts of human existence and unbound by the trappings of simple classification. They’re also dedicated to failure, and all its sweet rewards. There’s “genreless” as brand exercise, and there’s April + VISTA: the amalgamation of soulful, poppy, and grungy into beautiful, messy noise. Forever shapeshifting, a living testament to the ingenuity and endurance required to trailblaze. While both Hampton University graduates, George and Thompson first connected in Summer 2014 in Washington, D.C. They quickly struck a friendship, agreed to become a duo, and spent the next few years self-releasing their early works and building their reputation in the D.C. underground. Their first major break came with 2018’s You Are Here, earning them a COLORS session for “FOMO,” praise from the likes of BBC Radio 1Xtra and The FADER, and supporting runs with Little Dragon and Mura Masa. 2019 found April + VISTA direct supporting Little Simz on her North American and European tours for the Mercury Prize-nominated album GREY Area. “Traditional Noise” is the duo’s exploration of the formative music of their youth, twisting deeply familiar sounds into strange new territory and guiding their listeners into the comforts of a sweet unknown. In an effort to upend the notion of popular music, April + VISTA focused on unlocking the feelings and noises of their nostalgia to address this life’s persisting anxieties. The album plays like frayed memories, drawing from people and places of note to preserve what’s useful and release what no longer serves. Is tradition a refuge or a cage? Does the past condemn the spirit to repetition of its traumas? What is healing? Why leave music behind to begin with? Taking us into the night will be Niara Sterling. In the span of her journey, Niara has become an integral thread in the renaissance of music, community, style, and expression in New York. Originally from Virginia, Niara's roots have heavily influenced her developing sound - from an array of massive bass lines, melodic patterns, and throbbing kicks summed up in a soulful pulse.