In February 2022 the UK saw a remarkable sequence of three named storms which followed each other within the course of a single week. It was another of the increasingly frequent record-breaking weather events that point towards the dangers of climate change.

Three Storms uses data from buoys located around the south-west of England and North Wales, which sample the frequencies of ocean waves at different UK locations, every half hour. These wave motions have then been shifted up into the range of human hearing, making the “vibrations” of UK coastal waters audible, and compressing a month of activity into seven minutes. This forms an audible blueprint on which the work is built, and which is heard throughout in varying degrees of clarity.

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Three Storms was realized in 2022 in the Electroacoustic Music Studios of Bangor University (Wales, UK) and premiered on November 11, 2022 in Theatr Bryn Terfel of Pontio in Bangor. Wave data was supplied by the UK Channel Coastal Observatory. I am grateful to Dr David Christie of Bangor University’s School of Ocean Sciences for his invaluable help in obtaining and understanding the data.

Premiere

• November 2, 2022, Resonant Pasts, Sonic Futures: Seiniau Newid — Sounds of Change, Theatr Bryn Terfel — Pontio — Bangor University, Bangor (Wales, UK)