Ben Frost 'The Wasp Factory'

In advance of new music from Ben Frost in 2017, Bedroom Community presented the definitive recorded version of his 2013 opera and directorial stage debut, 'The Wasp Factory', based on the novel by Iain Banks. Setting characters against vast, implacable forces—storm, sea, fire, and madness—Frost revealed an unexpected warmth, contrasting his electronic experiments like 'A U R O R A' and 'Theory of Machines'.

The focus here was on the live sound of the Reykjavík Sinfonia, recorded at Abbey Road’s Studio II, and, for the first time, the human voice. Ben Frost set David Pountney’s libretto to tuneful yet unsettling vocal lines, crafting a chilling, poetic narrative. Like 'Sólaris' and 'By the Throat', 'The Wasp Factory' explored themes of identity, psychological disintegration, and the fragile boundary between humanity and the raw brutality of nature.