My Bristol Favourites: Bambi Redux

Bambi Redux is a composer, producer, performer and artist.

Born in Panama City in 1982, Bambi was raised and educated in Chile, Venezuala, Oman and Algeria. She moved to the UK in 2015 to read for a PhD in composition at the University of Bristol.

She has recently released her most overtly political record yet, Inane Disorder, on TRF Records.

These are Bambi’s top-five Bristol favourites:

Spirit of Bristol

Unveiled in 1971, Spirit of Bristol is meant to represent the spirit of Bristol’s commercial history – photo: Martin Booth

“I was ever so young and wild when I first came to Bristol and was greeted by this spiky sculpture by Paul Mount, which is clearly designed to be viewed under the influence of LSD. As an outsider, I felt obliged to accept it at its title. The Bearpit was then, as now, well, whatever it is, and I should know because I hung around there a bit and met some people I could tell you about. This artwork is apparently rather under-appreciated, but I am not in favour of moving it to Cabot Circus, as some have suggested. This B-Movie object belongs exactly where it is, and affirms that we are in the true cultural heart of Bristol.”

Central Library

Designed by Charles Holden, Bristol Central Library opened in 1906 – photo: Martin Booth

“Central Library is a first-class building and the books within it can enable even a simple girl like me to learn about everything from harmony and counterpoint to mathematics and philosophy. If they are not the same thing. Anyway, I feel real gratitude, almost reverence, towards the place. It has helped me to raise myself up. It is also warm and has toilets.”

High Kingsdown

In recommending that High Kingsdown be declared a Conservation Area, English Heritage’s architectural inspector called the scheme “an entirely pedestrianised piece of total townscape that is exceptional on such a scale” – photo: Martin Booth

“There is a profound and immensely reassuring uniformity to High Kingsdown. I always enjoy feeling like a rat in a maze as I pass through it. It is one of the few places that I can think clearly. The lack of wheeled transport is a significant factor. Perhaps the last bastion of pedestrian priority in Bristol. I wish that it went on for miles, enough to get truly lost in, a vast neutral labyrinth, a cubist medina. It would be preferable to what Bristol University intends to build up there. Sadly the vainglory of the overpaid knows no bounds.”

Our Days Were a Joy and Our Paths Through Flowers

David Inshaw’s Our Days Were a Joy and Our Paths Through Flowers © the artist / Bridgeman Images – photo: Bristol Culture

“The first time I saw this painting by David Inshaw in Bristol Museum & Art Gallery, I thought that I was looking through a window. The trees moved in the breeze. It is perhaps my favourite painting in the world, although it needs some restoration. I have made a pilgrimage to the Sussex churchyard that it depicts. In the painting, the woman looks towards the grave of composer John Ireland. In reality, she is actually looking towards Alvin Stardust’s house. David Inshaw was part of a loose group of painters known as the Brotherhood Of Ruralists. In my lifetime, Urbanism has become the primary dogma in culture, especially in music. Thanks to Jacob Rees-Mogg, mindfulness retreats, second-home owners, ‘forest bathing’, adventure sports jocks and so forth, the British countryside is, quite understandably, no longer considered a credible source of inspiration. So artists like myself are obliged to pretend that we prefer looking at brick walls and broken glass in order to remain hip, and to use drum machines instead of harps and lyres.”

The Thunderbolt

The Thunderbolt is a former tollhouse turned music venue that has hosted the likes of Kate Tempest, Paul Heaton and John Cooper Clarke- photo: Martin Booth

“Obviously I don’t like to get mixed up in your UK politics but I can tell you that the night before Britain left the EU I played at the Thunderbolt and I had a great time. Since then I haven’t had such a great time. So you figure it out. But I am pleased to see that the Thunderbolt endures. The whole surrounding area is very stimulating, mercilessly urban. Efforts to gentrify this unyielding neighbourhood astound me. This is the venue that the Louisiana wishes it was.”

Main photo: Bambi Redux

Read more: Bambi Redux releases eclectic new album

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