Lens For Dirctors

To find the roots of a "modest" band called THE LENS, we have to go back to 1976, when guitarist Mike Holmes, Peter Nicholls (vocals) and Niall Hayden (drums) met when according to the urban myth, searching for a GENESIS ticket, so they decide to form a band called THE GILN almost out of nothing. They soon recruit bass player Rob Thompson and keyboardist Peter Blackler and changed the name to THE LENS. They start to play in small venues. Really this was an amateur attempt, to the point that Niall Hayden often was replaced by Brian Marshall, or when the two were together, both played, something similar happened with Peter Nichol's position.

Perhaps best-known for his distinctive vocal style, Australian polymath Nick Cave here steps into the spotlight as librettist rather than performer, for a second operatic project with Belgian composer Nicholas Lens. Having collaborated on Shell Shock in 2014, they joined forces again during the global lockdown to create a new work, L.I.T.A.N.I.E.S.. At Lens’s request, Cave penned 12 litanies – “petitions to a divine maker” – simple, moving texts which the composer then wove into what he calls a “modest chamber opera of sleeping dreams”.