If you didn't hear much from one you loved for roughly 20 years, you'd rightly be worried. For Higher Intelligence Agency however, time and distance away from performance have made the myth and mastery grow stronger. Now, seemingly putting retirement in reverse, Inner Varnika's very own Benjamin Button, Higher Intelligence Agency, is bringing their live performance to IVX, reinvigorated and reimagined but with a half lifetime of experience to back it up.

At a time when 90s culture is being recognised by subsequent generations for its contribution to human history rather than being derided for its MTV host persona and grunge aesthetic, Birmingham's Bobby Bird is enacting a double-rebirth, being both part of the original movement and now its reinvigoration. One of the defining artists of 90s DIY electronica, having stepped away from live performance (“the 90s were intense”) his re-entry as Higher Intelligence Agency could not be better timed.

Self taught during the dawning of the 90s DIY electronic music era and riding successive waves of technological advancement ever since, HIA's sound roves between techno ambiance and groove based electronica. Reading interviews with Bird discussing his childhood, one is struck by the fact that he recounts his childhood not in memories per say, but in terms of specific sounds and their meaning in that moment: a coffee machine in a late night cafe, pinballs in a machine and so on. This attuned 'seeing' of sound in the environment is key to Higher Intelligence Agency, which is as concerned with the environmental aspects of performances—sound, setting, acoustics—as the sounds themselves. Important too is the space between sounds, giving the sense of spaciousness that is the HIA signature.

More specifically, this is music made with very big sound systems in mind, not unlike the XXL rig Inner Varnika will host this year. Come join us inside the Higher Intelligence Agency this Easter.