Prairie Wires Festival Of Electronic Sound Returns To Brandon Manitoba Canada
Organizes of Prairie Wires – a Canadian electronic music festival – let us know that this year’s event will be held September 19–20 in Brandon Manitoba.
Prairie Wires Modular 2025 will be the third iteration of the Festival of Electronic Sound since its inception in 2019. The festival features two days of performances, presentations and interactive activities at six free-to-attend, family friendly concerts and events spread across downtown Brandon and the BU campus.
Organized by Brandon based sound-artist and graphic designer Brendon Ehinger, this year will see PWM’s programming expanded to two full days.
“I really saw nothing like this happening. Not in Brandon. Not in Canada” said Ehinger, “I wanted to showcase the diversity of not just sounds, but genres, that the instrument (the modular synthesizer) is capable of.”
“This year’s festival will feature everything from electroacoustic chamber music to synthpunk rock, and everything in between,” he adds.
Here are some of highlights of the festival plans:
- Kerey Harper, “a brilliant electroacoustic new-music composer from St. Theresa Point First Nation”, will be headlining the opening-night concert at BU School of Music, performing with a chamber ensemble of piano, clarinet and cello. The lineup includes other artists that combine acoustic instruments with modular synthesis including Jason Tait (Weakerthans/Bahamas) who will explore live drumming with modular, and Edmonton synthesist k.burwash who will collaborate with violist Jennifer Thiessen (Wpg).
- Wiggle + Blunder Electric Afterparty (at the Dock on Princess) is another do-not-miss show. Winnipeg’s ‘queer mad scientist from the 80s’ Stiff Wiggle will share the bill with Winnipeg ex-pat and electro-indie rock darling Blunderspublik, in his first Manitoba appearance since relocating to Guelph, ON, in 2015.
- The festival wraps up on Saturday evening back at the School of Music with a multi-sensory concert spanning two performance halls. The audience is invited to move between spaces each featuring experimental music and projected visual works of two Montréal-based acts. Sound artist Jeremy Young will perform site responsive musique concrète to an undulating backdrop of digitized 8mm film works by Charles-André Coderre, and ARC, a multi-instrumental electronic post-rock trio also from Quebec, will animate the stage with a dynamic performance integrating live video synthesis that responds to the sound of their instruments.
Other events include a sonic scavenger hunt at “Mod on the Quad” Friday morning on the BU campus, and “Wandering Wires”, a guided ambient sound-trek through downtown to the Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba where “Patch & Release: Modular Synthposium”, an open-house modular meetup will take place from noon to five. Visitors can interact with PWM2025 artists and get a close-up look at their synthesizers on display, and take in additional performances by the likes of Winnipeg’s probableSelves and performance artist Princess Dasha.
People of all ages are also invited to explore the interactive “Wiggleroom Interactive Synthlab”, where Stiff Wiggle will coach you through creating your own patches on physical and virtual modular synthesizers and other sound-making devices. Visitors can also enter to win a Stylophone Gen-X2 mini synth.
Prairie Wires Modular 2025: Festival of Electronic Sound takes place in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada, on September 19 and 20, 2025. All PWM2025 events and venues are free-to-attend, accessible, and welcoming to people of all ages and backgrounds. Visit the event site for details.
