Longlisted for the 2021 Live Canon International Poetry Prize

Commissioned by Festival of the North.

VIEW SCORE

Read the Poems

Fray is a body of work created in response to traditional textile manufacturing processes at the Ardanalish Mill, Isle of Mull. Fray interweaves digital and acoustic sound, projected video, poetic text and a ‘virtual orchestra’, in order to draw parallels between woven fabric and the social and natural environments. I initiated this research as part of my 2023 Associate Artist residency at An Tobar and Mull Theatre on the Isle of Mull.

“Fray captivated me with its sustained emphasis on metaphors of stitching and fabric as a means of investigating social and
historical hierarchies; it’s an intricately structured pamphlet
and the accuracy of its descriptions reminded me of Elizabeth Bishop.” —John McCullough

One of my aims was to achieve a closer integration between my poetic/written output and the musical/sonic dimensions of my work. This exploration was pursued under the auspices of an Arts Council DYCP grant, and involved experimenting with motion sensing technology, and also, more broadly, re-thinking my compositional process—conceiving of it less in terms of ‘exemplary works’, and more akin to a weaving practice, the routine production of humble pieces of cloth.

“These poems, filled so much with place, do exactly this — they trust to the exact description, to the plain music of the line. Yarns, wools — there is a wonderful tactility to the work.” —Niall Campbell

Fray Installation — stereo audio / video projection onto 100 year-old woven wool/cotton blanket (Dry Water Arts, Northumberland 25/10/25)

Experimenting with video projections, digital audio and live weaving with motion-sensing @ An Tobar and Mull Theatre (Isle of Mull).

FRAY — complete projection video (dur 40′)

FRAY_score_sketch (Handwoven Handmade Button)

“Piano Weave” — a snippet of one of my collaborative sessions with weavers & spinners at An Tobar & Mull Theatre, as part of my Associate Artist Residency.

Weaving and fabric-themed creative eco-writing workshop @ Dry Water Arts

Intermedial poem for BSL signer, ensemble, soundtrack and printed text.

READ Lockdown Lyric

SCORE 1 (A3 print)

SCORE 2 (A4 print)

Soprano Alison McNeill

Listen: *SANCTUARY_audio preview

(score in preparation)

Sanctuary is a bird-inspired work commissioned by Amble Development Trust.

Accessed via the bird trail app currently being developed by Animmersion, Sanctuary draws connections between the avian and the human by transforming people’s singing voices into ‘birdcalls’ and birdcalls into human-like vocalisations. The result is an audio work scored for a hybrid ensemble of singers, musical instruments, digital sounds and an unlikely chorus of people and birds.

Technically, the soundtrack element employs digital tools to alter the pitch and duration of audio material: bringing birdcalls into the human vocal range and sending human voices into the birdcall register. Sounds have been gathered from a variety of sources, including recordings of local people whose ‘birdified’ voices form part of the sonic texture.

Listen to SANCTUARY (Preview)