'sounds like'

Trailer of clips of projects using sound in my arts practice since 2010

 I was recently invited to make an online presentation to CASE - the Canadian Association of Ecoustic Ecology, a somewhat daunting and humbling experience. Preparing for it took 3 days of trawling through my archive of soundwork to explain the development of my practice recording and editing sound as part of sculptural installation and digital projects. 

Below is a description of the pieces shown in the trailer which is viewable on youtube via this link  - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLLt_FxfvRo&feature=youtu.be

Sound gradually developing as a significant part of my artistic practice:

From 2005 onwards I began to use sound as an integral part of creating and presenting art work for different commissions – ‘Spirit of Place’ Soap Stories, Fish Tale, Snowline and Ghost Orchard, Rope Walk, the Sea beneath, Hermit, The America Ground, Tressells Children. Through being able to experiment on these projects I was able to develop my field recording and oral history practice learning better recording and editing skills as part of my research and embedding audio compilations into sculptural and video installations.

2005 An early example of experimenting with sound as part of an installation is the ‘All the Apples’ project researching the native varieties of apple trees growing in Kent and Sussex with the help of Brogdale the home of the National Fruit Collection. I wanted to draw attention to the decline and disappearance of native varieties of fruit and vegetables due to imported goods and mono cropping the result of which was the loss of apple orchards and lack of locally grown food.

This way of working then became an integral part an 8 year touring project investigating the history and stories of Floating Light Vessels around UK Waters called Last Station a collaborative work with artist and architect Elise Liversedge, with supporting commissions  by musician Trevor Watts, and writer Kay Syrad and artist Esther Appleyard-Fox.
For this I created 5 sound works using my field recordings and recorded conversations and reading of historic documents with project participants – Former Crew of Light Vessels, library staff, canal boat crews, audiences, singers, musicians and writers as invited collaborators. You can hear tracks via this link - 

 https://on.soundcloud.com/UjiiHiQDGAUDDf6w6

Blue Heart Project: 

Playlist via this link - https://on.soundcloud.com/1pkcMpuCmPuPyVMf6

After a period of skills development and experimental projects I began to get commissions such as the ‘Blue Heart’ water project. I produced a series of soundworks (link above) and followed on as sound producer for a project to trace the History of the Bourne River working with an archaeologist, a naturalist, historians and a writer. The Bourne River is one of the few remaining Chalk fed springs in the UK and is the source of the establishment of Eastbourne, first as a manor house and farm, then a village and latterly a large coastal resort.

Blue Heart is an ongoing project that aims to provide an understanding of the local water catchment and how it works communicating the risk of flooding to the communities of Eastbourne and south Wealden. Investigating how rain, rivers, groundwater and waste water move through Eastbourne and south Wealden. My sound pieces focused on ancient ponds and flood catchment reserves recording environmentalists, engineers, historians, walkers, passers by and runners. I incorporated field recordings from those sites with the voices to create a sound picture for each location. I talked with pond and river restoration expert Pete the Pond and he gave a poetic insight into his reverence and passion about caring for rivers, streams and ponds.

Tressell’s Children

Link here - https://on.soundcloud.com/8g4PzAvzQNcYRSwc7

A series of audio tracks commissioned and made for an immersive installation in former Victorian lodgings for stable hands and their families in St. Andrews Mews in Hastings for Coastal Currents Arts Festival 2023. "Tressell’s Children" is a project inspired by working- class heritage in Hastings. Volunteers were asked to read excerpts of transcriptions of oral histories recorded 20 years ago by residents of Hastings who experienced the social and economic conditions of the Victorian working class which I recorded and mixed with soundscapes to create different themes.

2008 – 2025 Hastings Fishermen’s Oral History. Fish Tale

Link to sample compilation - 

https://on.soundcloud.com/aWooBn234uvBHw4g7This major project co-designed with one of the most dis-enfranchised working-class communities in England, Hastings’ Fishing Community documents, celebrates and raises awareness of Europe’s largest and oldest beach-launched fishing fleet. This is a culturally rich and historically important area, where traditions pre-date 1066.

In the face of the growing environmental crisis and an ageing workforce, the fishing fleet is facing extinction. Working in partnership with Hastings Fishermen’s Protection Society recording the stories and cultural traditions of the fishermen, ensuring they are passed on to the wider community and future generations.

Currently we are hoping to get funding to to share this rich industrial and cultural heritage, preserving and showcasing cultural traditions and sounds which are at risk of being lost. Archiving the audio and making it accessible for education and creative activities.

I began this work in 2011 and there are currently available on Soundcloud a few examples of audio mixes from this long project  via the link above.You will find many other examples of my soundwork on my soundcloud site and on the Last Station soundcloud page -

https://on.soundcloud.com/VJo8TKGcjStY6Moh8

and on the Combe Valley Biography page -

https://on.soundcloud.com/CbRHNdigs1UyAzGU8

This project features a series of audio tracks I created for soundwalks in the Combe Valley Countryside Park in Bexhill-on Sea, Sea East Sussex and Bulverhythe, St. Leonards-on- Sea. The Soundwalks in the playlists were commissioned by the Friends of Combe Valley Conservation area in Bexhill East Sussex and are available as geo-location triggered listening and as podcasts, and are part of a series of art projects planned for the area. 

Amateur Naturalists Peter Hunisett and David Rogers tell us about the wonderful diversity of plants, birds, and geology in the Combe Valley. Bexhill Museum curator and Historian Julian Porter uncovers the early history of the formation of the valley discover through the archaeological finds; David Dennis reveals the ancient and recent history of the Bulverhythe fields from medieval times to the present day.

To take the walk the map reference is 50°50′30′′N , 000°29′51′′E The valley includes contains the Watermill & Powdermill Streams and the Combe Haven river and seashore.