Interruptions dominate this composition, acting as pauses, abrupt stops, moments cut short and held breaths. These moments represent the many interruptions experienced in my daily life, in work, activities and composing. Interruptions are temporal states where continuity is ceased but then resumed or returned to after the interrupting event is over. In this work, interruptions are positioned as the main event; acting as focal points and instances to explore the creative potential of these typically unwanted occurrences. There are many different types of interruptions constructed throughout the composition. These show the different outcomes between successful versus unsuccessful interruptions, those that form segues to those that forcefully threaten and break down sound’s continuous presence. This creative experimentation with many interruptions is set within the context of home life and home sounds. These sounds tell a story, imitating interruptions to flow, being in the home for extended periods and all this entails.

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Home Truths was realized in 2023 at the composer’s studio in Manchester (England, UK) and premiered on May 4, 2024 during the IX Festival de Música Electroacústica UC in the Auditorio of the Centro de Extensión Campus Oriente — Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile in Santiago (Chile). Home Truths was awarded the Marcelle Deschênes Prize in Electronic Music in the 13th Musicworks Electronic Music Composition Contest (Toronto, Canada, 2023-24).

Composition

• 2023, Personal studio, Manchester (England, UK)

Premiere

• May 4, 2024, IX Festival de Música Electroacústica UC: Tercera jornada, Auditorio — Centro de Extensión Campus Oriente — Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago (Chile)

Awards

• Marcelle Deschênes Prize in Electronic Music, 13th Musicworks Electronic Music Composition Contest 2023-24, Toronto (Ontario, Canada)

Mastering

• May 2024, Dominique Bassal • Studio Inverse, Montréal (Québec)

Microplastics is an acousmatic work derived solely from plastic sound sources. These sounds are predominately from waste accumulated from household use (empty milk containers, bottles, straws, lids, cling film, and wrappers).

Further sources were captured at the Manchester Education Centre and Materials Recovery Facility in Sharston (England, UK), which illuminated ways in which plastics are separated and sorted by the Aladdin machine. This visit provided an eye-opening visual for the monumental scale of plastic waste, which is represented sonically half-way through the work through an unprocessed raw recording of plastic rubbish being dumped out into a colossal mountain of unbelievable proportions.

Further to these recordings and sources are sounds collected from micro-sized plastics, sourced from the south coast of England courtesy of Rob Arnold (visual artist and microplastics cleanup expert). These microplastic pieces, no larger that 5 mm in diameter, are a mix of worn-down remnants of past plastic objects (lids, shards, tubing, rims and strips) and ‘nurdles’ or ‘bio-beads’ waste, which present hazardous, detrimental ecological damage to marine life and the environment. The plastics industry converts nurdles into plastic products, however the movement and transportation of these tiny pellets of plastic regularly encounter accidental spills, spreading out into water and drainage systems. Bio-beads are equally problematic, entering the sea via their use in sewage filtration systems. These minuscule plastic particles can be mistaken for food by marine life and birds in the environment.

This work explores the sound world of this disastrous pollution and unfortunate particles debris that now inhabit the world in insurmountable quantities.

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Microplastics was realized in 2021 at the Snowdon Studio in the Clock House of Keele University (England, UK) and the composer’s studio in Manchester (England, UK) and premiered online on April 23, 2021 during the BEAST FEaST festival in Birmingham (England, UK). Thanks to plastic waste sculptor Rob Arnold for providing the microplastic waste collected from Tregantle Beach in Cornwall (England, UK), John Wiggins for providing an old plastic bottle, and the Waste Experience team at the Manchester Education Centre and Materials Recovery Facility in Sharston (England, UK). On April 2, 2021 Microplastics was awarded an Honorable Mention in the Composed with Sound category of the 1st Sound of Year Awards (UK), and a prize at the Ars Electronica Forum Wallis (Leuk, Switzerland, 2021).

Preparation

• 2020, Manchester Education Centre and Materials Recovery Facility, Sharston (England, UK)

Composition

• 2021, Snowdon Studio — Clock House — Keele University, Keele (England, UK)
• 2021, Personal studio, Manchester (England, UK)

Premiere

• April 23, 2021, BEAST FEaST 2021: Concert 5, Birmingham (England, UK)

Awards

• Honorable Mention, Composed with Sound, Sound of the Year Awards 2020, UK
• Prize, Ars Electronica Forum Wallis 2021, Leuk (Switzerland)

Mastering

• May 2024, Dominique Bassal • Studio Inverse, Montréal (Québec)

This composition exclusively makes use of sounds sourced from the Fairlight CMI. These sounds include the factory pre-recorded samples which came loaded on 8-inch floppy disks for the Fairlight CMI Series II from its manufacturer in 1982.

Other sounds are derived from the mechanics and internal workings of the Fairlight, for example, the turn key (power switch), power up and power down sounds, the innovative light-pen making contact with the monitor screen, the drop down panel, disks loading/reading and the unmistakably loud fan noise emanating from the instrument. These mechanical sounds were sourced from the Fairlight CMI IIx housed in the Clock House at Keele University, UK where I worked between 2019 and ’21.

The work fundamentally explores a historically important and treasured sound library that defined the sound of 80s pop. The legendary bottle smash, ORCH 2, and Trevor Horn stabs are just some of these well known Fairlight sounds that now feature in new configurations in this work. These samples are reimagined with musique concrète techniques, layered, processed and looped to create a new montage.

Working with a sound library of such significance and magnitude has made me wonder about the curatorial decisions in putting together this library of sounds, or how this rather mixed bag of materials came about — conversations with Peter Wielk (studio manager for the Fairlight) has shed light on the backstory of many sounds in the collection. My impetus for creating this work was the knowledge of the sounds’ common feature — their brevity. The sounds last no longer that a second in most cases due to the limitations of RAM and processing power.

Another very noticeable feature of all Fairlight samples is the low resolution and generally low audio quality the sounds possess. With an 11kHz sample rate and 8-bit resolution, audio quality was certainly somewhat compromised (in comparison to CD-Audio resolution of 44.1kHz / 16-bit), which is exhibited through a gritty, but much loved character.

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Farewell Fairlight was realized in 2021 at the Snowdon Studio and the Corner Studio of Keele University in Keele (England, UK) and at the composer’s studio in Manchester (England, UK) and premiered on the radio on July 3, 2022 during the L’expérimentale program on France Musique, and in concert on July 9, 2002 during the Concert 30 of the ICMC 2022 in Theatre 1 of the University of Limerick (Ireland). Many thanks go to music technicians Cliff Bradbury and Ian Bayliss at Keele University, Rob Puricelli and Paul Harkins for igniting my interest in the Fairlight, and to Peter Wielk for sharing his knowledge about the sample libraries. Farewell Fairlight was awarded the 3rd prize ex æquo at the GRM Découvertes 2021 competition (Paris, France).

Composition

• 2021, Snowdon Studio — Clock House — Keele University, Keele (England, UK)
• 2021, Corner Studio — Clock House — Keele University, Keele (England, UK)
• 2021, Personal studio, Manchester (England, UK)

Premiere

• July 3, 2022, L’expérimentale, France Musique, France
• July 9, 2022, ICMC 2022: Concert 30, Irish World Academy of Music and Dance — University of Limerick – Theatre 1, Limerick (Ireland)

Awards

• 3rd prize ex æquo, GRM Découvertes 2021, Paris (France)

Mastering

• May 2024, Dominique Bassal • Studio Inverse, Montréal (Québec)

This work explores the memories found in cupboards, drawers and cabinets. Scraps of paper, photographs and mementos come to life through sonic snapshots of earlier times. Opening and closing cupboards offers an inviting gesture to enter new sonic worlds; a cliché of the acousmatic genre, but reimagined here as an everyday action that frames the appearance of sound memories. This open-close action reveals environments, places and spaces, showing brief sonic glimpses of my past years. A key influence guiding the work’s construction was the concept of the interruption. Exploring interruptions in all their forms and how these impact upon continuity was an important step for developing the work’s structure.

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Cupboard Love was realized in 2022 at the composer’s studio in Manchester (England, UK) and premiered on March 12, 2023 during the CCMC 2023 festival in the Shokeikan Hall of the Doshisha Women’s College of Liberal Arts in Kyoto (Japan). Cupboard Love was awarded the ACSM116 Prize of the CCMC 2023 competition (Japan), and a honorable mention at the Ars Electronica Forum Wallis (Leuk, Switzerland, 2024).

Composition

• 2022, Personal studio, Manchester (England, UK)

Premiere

• March 12, 2023, CCMC 2023: Concert 2 — Works Selected by CCMC, Doshisha Women’s College of Liberal Arts – K101 Shokeikan Hall, Kyoto (Japan)

Awards

• ACSM116 Prize, CCMC 2023, Japan
• Special Mention, Ars Electronica Forum Wallis 2024, Leuk (Switzerland)

Mastering

• May 2024, Dominique Bassal • Studio Inverse, Montréal (Québec)

I have vivid memories of my landline telephone in the home I grew up in. It was an old-style shiny black rotary dial phone, with its own table, accompanied with directory and phone book, all situated in the entrance hallway. As I grew up, the home telephone changed size and shape, the rotary dial disappeared and was replaced with touch-tone buttons, and then eventually it became cordless, liberating the user from its fixed location. I realized recently that I had not used my current landline telephone in a long time. It had fallen behind some furniture and become caked in dust. When I came to use it, it felt strange and the sounds it created made me curious about this somewhat endangered household object. I became fascinated with the dial-tone sound and later discovered that landline dial-tone sounds are not the same in every country. For some of my non-British friends and family, dial-tone pitches appeared to be a type of cultural sound emblem reminding them of home. The UK’s dial-tone is a combination of sine waves mixed from 350Hz and 450Hz, while the North American is a combination of 350Hz and 440Hz. In this piece I have explored my landline telephone in all its glory and have tried to recreate and reimagine the sounds of that first home telephone I remember from when I was younger.

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Landline was realized in 2018 at the composer’s studio in Manchester (England, UK) and premiered on December 6, 2018 during the Australasian Computer Music Conference (ACMC) 2018 in the Enright Studio of the Western Australia Academy of Performing Arts of Edith Cowan University in Mount Lawley (Western Australia, Australia). Many thanks go to Conserve the Sound (CTS) online museum — www.conservethesound.de — for granting permissions to borrow one of their archived dial telephone sounds (name: Fernsprechtischapparat; manufacturer: Deutsche Bundespost) and giving insight into the world of disappearing sounds. Landline was awarded the 1st prize at the 8th Musicworks Electronic Music Composition Contest (Toronto, Canada, 2018-19).

Composition

• 2018, Personal studio, Manchester (England, UK)

Premiere

• December 6, 2018, ACMC 2018: The Music of Manuella Blackburn, Western Australia Academy of Performing Arts — Edith Cowan University – Enright Studio, Mount Lawley (Western Australia, Australia)

Awards

• 1st prize, 8th Musicworks Electronic Music Composition Contest 2018-19, Toronto (Ontario, Canada)

Mastering

• May 2024, Dominique Bassal • Studio Inverse, Montréal (Québec)