BIO

After studying bassoon at Goldsmiths whilst listening to a lot of the likes of Henry Cow, News From Babel, Magma, Univers Zero etc, Chloe swapped the concert dress for a silver cape and took her classical training into more experimental, progressive lands. After joining space/doom/disco loons Chrome Hoof and Jowe Head’s New Wave act ‘Angel Racing Food’, it was decided that this was the way forward. She currently plays bassoon, saxes and backing vocals with Chrome Hoof and Knifeworld, and in Half The Sky with Chris Cutler, Dagmar Krause and Yumi Hara, performing the music of Lindsay Cooper (Henry Cow/News From Babel), recently in Tokyo. Chloe has appeared on various recordings over the years by bands such as Guapo, Cathedral and Mothlite and has taken part in performance and sound art works by Serena Korda/Daniel O’Sullivan and Circumstance. 

VÄLVĒ  is the outlet for composer/performer Chlöe Herington’s compositional work using text and image as the starting point for scores. She collects sounds and diagrams, composing predominantly for bassoon, saxes, electronics and found sounds to explore synaesthetic memory and collective experience.


The band has been morphing - from what originated as a solo project, performing mainly in art galleries, it grew to include Elen Evans on harp.  After moving from from galleries back into music venues, they were recently joined by Chl
öe's Chrome Hoof comrade, Emma Sullivan on bass, microkorg and vocals. VÄLVĒ are now three! Live, the music traverses the realms of noise and improv into songs, punctuated with found sounds and eases into spacy soundscapes.

They have recently closed the Barn stage at Supernormal and been played by John Doran on BBC R3's late Junction.

The debut album, 'Silent Reflux', a multi-sensory adventure into the collective memory of dreams, is in post-production. As VÄLVĒ, Chlöe has also composed for artist, Tai Shani; most notably at the Hayward Gallery (Mirror City).





"V A L V E is the solo project of Chlöe Herington – reedswoman, experimenter and Magma/Zappa/Peter Maxwell Davies fan. She’s best known for blowing taut, assertive bassoon and saxophone parts in Knifeworld and Chrome Hoof, but has also worked with lo-fi art-rockers Jowe Head & The Demi Monde and elusive psycho-lounge band Made By Monsters, as well as a clutch of contemporary classical projects. V A L V E places the bassoon to centre stage, surrounded by Chlöe’s clusters of technology and (when required) selected guests. At the Harrison, the project will be appearing in “its first non-gallery show ever”, which might either involve letting it off the leash or playing a little more safe. (Come and find out.)
Dotted around Chlöe’s other band commitments, V A L V E releases have been sparse so far – odd fits and starts on Soundcloud or YouTube plus a couple of Bandcamp tracks. Here are a few tasters, including the soundtrack to a dinosaur battle, something which Chlöe developed from a piece of music found in a skip, and a more sombre contemporary classical effort." - Misfit City, Aug '15

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