:ZOVIET*FRANCE: BIOGRAPHY 2026
For over 45 years the Newcastle, UK based music group :zoviet*france: has tested and explored the edges of known music both in recording and performance. Their approach to composition defies adequate description: its form is instrumental non- song based and derived from an eclectic mix of electronic and acoustic instruments, infused with field recordings.
Though wilfully obscure and underground their music has an international audience. They have released over 20 albums and have featured in the catalogues of Mute Records (UK), Staalplaat (Netherlands), Soleilmoon Recordings (USA), alt.vinyl (UK), and their own Charrm label. Over recent years they have worked extensively with contemporary dance companies and have been commissioned to compose soundtracks for new works by Karas (Japan), Zero Visibility Corp (Norway), Nye Carte Blanche Danseteater (Norway), balletLORENT (UK), and for award winning productions by Random Dance Company (UK). As well as composing soundtracks for many artists’ short moving image works, they created the soundtrack for the multi-award winning cult horror film, ‘Savageland’.
Most recently, their latest album, ‘The Gate Is Open’, released by the Xevarion Institute, formed the axis of a major exhibition of their artwork and new installations at Xevarion’s Catalyst Gallery in Hong Kong.
:zoviet*france: produces a weekly net radio programme and podcast, A Duck in a Tree, which is transmitted by Resonance FM in London, Colaboradio in Berlin and CJMP in British Columbia, and which they describe as a “continuous mix of some of the best genre-refusing, zero BPM and maximinalist recordings that have grabbed our attention.”
