News

Monday 21 June 2021 saw the release of the next in the Stations of the Sun series – Solstice 2.

Here’s what it’s all about …

“She wakes from a dream of vivid primary colours, a memory of a blue globe in a sea of darkness. The doe hare slowly blinks and opens her eyes, nose catching the changing scents of the heath, meadows, woodlands and rivers. She sits alert in the tall grass, feeling the warmth of the sun on her ears and the strength returning to her limbs. Now is the time to rise, reclaim the spaces, to regain Her rightful place.”

Solstice 2 is the third instalment of the Lines of Silence Stations of the Sun project, released on the date of the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere, 2021. A collection of glissando guitar and slowly evolving abstract drones/soundscapes generated from bass guitar, Himalayan singing bowls and gong, processed through effects pedals, digital effects and filters.

Equinox 1 is the second release in the Lines of Silence Stations of the Sun project, marking the solstices and equinoxes. Released on the date of the 2021 Vernal Equinox in the northern hemisphere and in pantheistic celebration of Ostara.

Equinox 1 comprises two pieces – The Earth, the Goddess marks the awakening from winter with analogue synth drones, through a hypnotic Berlin School synth sequence, settling into a glissando guitar coda. Hare in the Dawn Light moves from lydian guitar into Rainbow Dome analog synth sequences. A gentler analogue synth outro marks the final transition from winter to spring.

This is the first Lines of Silence release to primarily feature analogue synths (Arturia Microbrute, Behringer Crave and Volca Keys).

Equinox 1 is being released digitally only at present – hopefully there will be a physical release later in the year of the whole Stations of the Sun series. In addition to the digital release you can also buy a very limited edition print of the artwork – Night and Day (spray paint on 300GSM craft card). These are hand made so each one will differ slightly.

Terra / Aqua – the first album by my side project Lines of Silence is now available to buy on CD or download from the TQN-aut Bandcamp page.

Lines of Silence is an exploration of more esoteric, conceptual long form compositions.

Terra and Aqua were composed to help deal with my own recurring feelings of anxiety and problems sleeping – coming and going in their own cycles of tides. The drones consist of simple tones, principally based around their key note, sometimes moving with direction but at other times purposefully staying static, allowing the mind to travel, then slow and calm.

Terra and Aqua are a collection of drones, based on the main notes of the terra and aqua Koshi chimes (G, C, E and F for terra; A, D, F and G for aqua). Substituting one hour for one minute, the length of Terra and Aqua represent the sidereal day (23:56) and tidal cycle of a lunar day (24:50). Each drone is around 6 minutes long and may represent different aspects of those days (time of the day, high or low tides) or simply different moods experienced during those times.

The cover for Terra / Aqua was designed by Alison Henning. Moonwaves was based on her interpretation and response to the music. I think it’s a beautiful work and complements the music perfectly.

Lines of Silence is a diversion that may end up becoming more than that. I started it as a way of exploring more conceptual and esoteric long form material. When I started recording for it it felt different enough from previous releases to warrant a different name. The name itself was a mash-up of the name of one of Richard Long‘s artworks (A Line Made by Walking), and a line – “Atomic silence” from one of his “textworks” (A Twenty One Day Footpath Walk Nepal 1983).

The first album Terra / Aqua is due to be released by the lovely folks at TQN-aut in late 2020.

Here’s a brief overview of what it’s about:

Terra and Aqua are a collection of drones, based on the main notes of the terra and aqua Koshi chimes (G, C, E and F for terra; A, D, F and G for aqua). Substituting one hour for one minute, the length of Terra and Aqua represent the sidereal day (23:56) and tidal cycle of a lunar day (24:50). Each drone contained within the two pieces is around 6 minutes long and may represent different aspects of those days (time of the day, high or low tides) or simply different moods experienced during those times.

Here’s a video for Atlantic, the third track from my recent Zetland EP.

Announcing a new EP: Zetland available to download from Bandcamp and stream from all major streaming sites.

Zetland was born from a couple of abandoned projects. The first was around ambient remixes of previous releases and the second two extended improvisations made on electric guitar and gong. The first never happened but left me wanting to experiment more with a more electronic approach, exploring sound design rather than instrumentation. I almost released the improvisations but wasn’t really happy with them. Elements of them appear on Zetland, heavily processed and manipulated.

Zetland is the most electronic release of mine so far – in addition to processed gong, guitar and radio sounds it features samples from the Polish Radio Experimental Studio, again treated and manipulated, alongside synths and sampled reverb tails.

I was keen for this not to become the inevitable “lockdown release”. However, I realised when I came to name the tracks (something I always struggle with and leave until the last minute) that they were informed by a longing to be a long way away – surrounded by the sounds of nature rather than urban clatter which is quickly re-establishing itself after the relative peace of the early lockdown.

Initially this is being released digitally but may find a physical release in time.