Musician / Composer / Producer / Educator
The two weeks I spent on my artist residency in Courthouse Arts Centre Tinahely was truly inspiring and nourishing as an artist. It was also a challenge, but that is what sparks creativity.
Getting out of your comfort zone is always good!
Here is a little piece I wrote as a reflection on my time there
Thanks again to Improvised Music Company for making this happen, it was a fantastic experience.
#navigatorresidency
Very happy to announce that I have been chosen for an artist residency at The Courthouse Arts Centre in Tinahely, Co. Wicklow!
https://www.improvisedmusic.ie/whats-happening/news/four-artists-chosen-for-imcs-navigator-programme
The 14-day Navigator Jazz Residency programme is run by Improvised Music Company and it offers jazz and improvising musicians professionally remunerated time and space to develop and perform work, while building relationships locally.
It’s a wonderful opportunity to be embarking on this residency. As an artist it is rare to get the support to focus on your work for an extended period, away from the distractions of day to day life, and I feel very fortunate for this opportunity.
Community engagement with the arts is something very close to my heart and I’m really excited to work with and be inspired by the local community of Tinahely.
In recent times, nature has been inspiring my work more and more. I’m also looking forward to drawing inspiration from the beautiful surrounds of Co. Wicklow and the nearby ancient oak trees of Tomnafinnoge Woods.
I’m very thrilled to have been awarded an Agility Award by The Arts Council!
For this project, I will be doing some field recording around Lough Corrib, Co. Galway and using nature sounds and ambient recording to make some new Penji tracks.
I am thrilled to be a part of Improvised Music Company’s series ‘Piece by Piece’!
Thoroughly looking forward to sharing the piece I have created, which brings together my work as a jazz guitarist and also my electronic production work as Penji.
It will premiere next Friday 27th Nov at 8pm.
Here is what IMC have to say about Piece by Piece:
The first series of Piece by Piece demonstrated the rich possibilities of the online medium, as some of Ireland’s finest improvising artists created new musical works. Creative use of film and manipulated visuals showed the artists’ inspirations and thought processes, and became as much part of the experience as the music. Â
With a fresh impetus for this second season of Piece by Piece, the principle of interconnectedness will continue, with each artist’s performance influencing or inspiring the next. Piece by piece, artists will create new improvised work, based on the preceding work.
The full freedom of improvisation and spontaneous creation, and a diverse range of artists whose practice often expands beyond the musical will make for distinctive digital experiences.Â
These eight sequential solo performances Piece by Piece Season 2, will be broadcast via IMC’s YouTube channel, as well as IMC’s social media platforms on Fridays at 8pm, beginning on Friday 27th November with a ‘live’ solo performance from Galway-based guitarist and electronic improviser Aengus Hackett.
Other artists commissioned in this series include vocalist and electronics composer Jenna Harris, innovati ve Belfast drummer Steve Davis, guitarist and composer Chris Guilfoyle, sound and performance artist Vicky Langan, keyboard and gamelan explorer Bianca Gannon, critically-acclaimed vocalist and composer Lauren Kinsella, and dynamic alto-sax player Chris Engel.
Enjoy fresh new music, influenced in real-time, from world-class Irish improvising musicians, telling the story of these times through new music and live performance, piece by piece.
Leading Irish publication The Journal of Music have written an extremely positive review of my Penji EP! Here’s a nice extract:
“Adopting the name of Penji for his solo project, Hackett appears to have taken his most interesting musical digression…in the process (Penji) has created a groove-laden sound that is augmented by weighty beats, shimmering processed guitar and warm synths. These are songs to reward repeated listens as various elements seep up to the surface and reveal themselves..
With this EP, Penji has revealed a knack of merging the ecstatic with the downbeat.”
Don O’Mahony, The Journal of Music (read full review here)
Pretty fantastic review of the Penji EP on award-winning cultural media website HeadStuff!
Read the full review here: https://www.headstuff.org/entertainment/music/review-penji-electric-eponymous-debut/
Nice write-up in Connacht Tribune this week! Being in Zinc was a formative time for me, and helped me to have a free approach to writing and producing with the new Penji record.
https://connachttribune.ie/pushing-out-the-boundaries-with-jazz-electronica-fusion/
I’m delighted to announce that my debut EP of electronic music is out May 21st on all platforms!
I am releasing under the alias Penji, and here is the beautiful artwork by long-time collaborator AMW Visual
Quietly in the background, for the past couple of years I have been slaving away in my home studio..
I have been recording guitars, playing synths, programming electronic beats and processing it all through a plethora of guitar pedals.
This has resulted in a four-track EP of electronic music, of which I am very proud!
I would describe it as ‘dreamy, wonky, future-nostalgic hip-hop’…
Entirely recorded, produced and mixed by myself,
‘Penji’ has just been mastered in one of the finest mastering studios in the UK (who have worked with such artists as Om Unit), and I will be releasing it this spring.
Stay tuned for an exact release date in May!