Studio 1824 [2009]

A suite of recordings was the result of a month long residency (which I extended to nearly three months) commissioned by Timespan Heritage and Arts Centre in Helmsdale, Sutherland in 2008.

Stream / download the works on my bandcamp

The brief was to make works in response to Helmsdale Ice House - a piece of industrial coastal architecture, built in 1824. As an homage, the release is exactly 1824 seconds long. Much of the audio was recorded in the Ice House itself. The track "An Ancient Piece..." features a very rare recording of Sutherland Gaelic, that even scholars struggled to translate.

 

I scored it with Helmsdale Primary School piano.

 

I turned the venue into a temporary record label - producing this recording and facilitating a few others.

 

There was also a gallery show as well as the site-specific work which featured six lambda prints and two video installations and singing in the ice house.

This whole period of discovery, social interaction and practice was one of the happiest times of my life. The project is dedicated to fishermen and women everywhere.