UPDATES & NEWS
The Grey Shape of the City - Audiovisual Installation
'The Grey Shape of the City' is an immersive audiovisual installation combining analog photographs with spatialised field recordings captured in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. The images show the concrete brutalist architecture in Pripyat being gradually swallowed by plant life, and capture radiation artefacts - usually invisible - as bright white lines and dots. The piece focuses on nature’s reclamation of synthetic structures, giving visitors a glimpse into a post-human landscape. The project approaches a complex, difficult topic with respect and reverence, engaging with the role of the natural world in the face of damage caused by human habitation and radiation. Visitors are prompted to consider their actions long term effects, both individually and as humans, challenging our anthropocentrism. The Grey Shape of the City was exhibited at Brighton’s Metropolis Contemporary Gallery from July 28th to September 28th.
'Dreaming With Machines' with Brighter Sound
In May 2022 I attended a series of workshops facilitated by sound and electronic media artist Vicky Clarke, and Brighter Sound. During the residency, I made use of Machine Learning and Neural Network tools for audio and visual generation, sampling, synthesis, composition and production. The workshops gave me an insight into and working knowledge of several different neural network architectures and their uses in audio. I made best use of SampleRNN (a Recurrent Neural Network) which I trained on a number of datasets including unfinished demos from my debut record and a selection of vocal lines. After some time-consuming training over dozens to hundreds of epochs, I got intruiging outputs reminiscent of the synth and percussion work on the record. I also got some terrifying output sounds from my vocals, which variously sounded like warped singing and screaming. Sincerest apologies to my virtual self for the digital torture. At the end of the residency we produced Dream Transmissions, showcased here.
Amplify Nature Immersion Residency at Hawkwood
More to come.
Production Process
Waveform
The workflow for my music and audio work on Waveform was unique - I worked closely with the director, Karen Dohr, from the early production stages through to the completion of the short film, and we took a wonderfully collaborative apprach to the audio. Dohr has a strong creative vision of the marriage of audio and visuals, and wanted a blend of diegetic and non diegetic sound that subtly pulls at the viewer's attention, allowing them to come to their own conclusions and intpretations about certain scenes. In addition, audio is a recurrent motif in Waveform, so it was vital to dovetail the sonics and the visuals in the edit. The director and I went back and forth with drafts and edits, and edited the audio and video in turn over a number of months, sharing thoughts, optinions and desires as to the final outcome. This fluid approach allowed me to compose a truly bespoke score that enhances the themes of Waveform. I am also particularly glad to have had the challenge of creating more subtle tracks, combining music, Foley, sound effects and ambience to create atmospheric sonics that draw the viewer to certain elements of the film without being too demanding or obvious.
Throughout the production process I wrote a number of pieces that weren't suitable for the final cut of the film, and so I have been continuing to develop and mix them - alongside the other tracks from the film - in my downtime from other projects, with a view towards a soundtrack release in 2023.
