ABZ/A
1998
fixed medium - stereo
5’00”
ABZ/A consists of a number of scenes using sounds from in and around Aberdeen which kind of call up what Aberdeen means to me as someone who lives there, but which will also will mean something to everyone who listens to it; here are some fairly untreated sounds which are instantly recognisable to everyone (airport, cars on cobbled streets, shopping centre). There is text but not that needs to be understood.
There is no story line - it's more a collection of scenes glued together by opening/closing gestures derived from the sounds themselves. These scenes get longer and longer with the last one lasting for over half the piece. It is best listened to over headphones to really get into the piece and to listen to the minute and subtle transformations of sounds. These sounds are sometimes real/familiar (beach, cars) and sometimes unreal/unfamiliar (opening sound, big drone at climax). Most of the time I am playing around with the images created by the juxtapositions of these sound types. Is the accordionist playing in a shopping centre, on a street, by the sea, or in an unfamiliar space? All of these - and sometimes at the same time! This is what I find interesting about composing in this medium - I like to take the listener on a journey where everything around them is constantly changing from familiar to unfamiliar.
ABZ/A is part of a larger collaboration called ...silhouettes/resonances... by four sound artists based in Scotland. Each piece is concerned with a composer's response to a sense of place. The four places (the other three: Glasgow - Alistair MacDonald, Inverurie - Gregg Wagstaff, the Isle of Harris - Robert Dow) were chosen from across the varied landscape of Scotland and they reflect both the differences in landscape and the differences between the composers. The work was commissioned by the BBC for Radio Scotland's Week of Sound in March 1998.
ABZ/A appears on Un Son Peut En Cacher Un Autre available from bandcamp
ABZ/A also appears on…
Sonic Art from Aberdeen, Glasgow, Huddersfield and Newcastle.
Other links:
Drift: Resonant Cities
Performances
1998
Feb - University, Montréal, Canada - EuCuE
Mar - BBC Radio Scotland
1999
Feb - Salle de Concert, Université Concordia, Montreal, Canada
Aug - Crest, Drome, France - Futura Festival
Sep - The Sonar Map, KSER 90.7 FM, Seattle, USA
Nov - Sala Mirador, Centre de Cultura Contemporánia de Barcelona - En Red 0 Soundcapes Symposium
2000
Feb - Concert Hall, University of Newcastle - SAN Conference
Mar - Logos Foundation, Brussels, Belguim
Aug - Ears Wide Open, KPFA, Berkeley, USA
Oct - University of Iowa, USA
2001
Nov - Cinematek, Gothersgade 55, Copenhagen, Denmark
Dec - East of Eden Cinema, Aarhus
2002
Dec - La Nuit des Sauriens, 90.1 FM, France
2003
Mar 19-27 - University of Melbourne, Australia - World Forum for Acoustic Ecology Conference 2003; Australian Sound Design Project
Jun 12 - Aether Fest, KUNM-FM 89.9, Albuquerque, USA - Aether Fest
Aug 3 - Martian Gardens, WMUA 91.1 FM, USA
2004
Aug 22-28 - Netcast/Audio on Demand - Drift: Resonant Cities
2005
May 5 - St Paul’s Hall, University of Huddersfield
Oct 1 - SoundLab Channel Edition III [R][R][F]2005—>XP – global networking project
2006
May 18 - Martian Gardens, WMUA 91.1 FM, USA - Martian Gardens
2007
Feb 16 - School of Music, University of Florida - Unbalanced Connection 39
Apr 1 - Radio Horizon 93.9, South Africa
May 5 - It’s Too Damn Early, WDBX, Carbondale, Illinois, USA - ITDE
May 14 - WOBC 91.5 FM, Oberlin, Ohio, USA - Foldover
May 21 - Radio Patapoe, Amsterdam - Wreck this MeSS
Jul 6 - Australian Broadcasting Corporation - Sound Quality
2008
Nov 12 - Left Bank, Tarland - soundfestival
review:
soundfestival - Alan Cooper - “…clever sculpting of sounds…”
2009
Jan 5 - Radio Patapoe, Amsterdam - Wreck this MeSS
Dec/Jan 2010 - DEGEM/ZKM Web Radio - DEGEM/ZKM
2010
May 5 - Zeste, Aberdeen - University of Aberdeen
Sep 8 - Glendronach Whisky Distillery, Forgue - Wordfringe
review:
New Words - Margaret Hearne - “…a glorious mix of Aberdeen sounds…”
Nov 24 - Phipps Hall, University of Huddersfield - Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival 2010
2011
Oct 29 - MacRobert Building, University of Aberdeen - soundfestival
2015
Mar 6 - Bewerunge Room, Maynooth University, Ireland
May 15 - Centro Culturel Recoleta, Buenos Aires, Argentina - LIPM
2016
Mar 23 - The Dome, Bramall Building, University of Birmingham - miniBEAST
Oct 3 - The Chapel, Haddo House - Haddo Arts Festival
2017
Oct 27 - Belmont Cinema, Aberdeen - soundfestival
2021
Apr 5 - CKCU-FM 93.1, Ottawa, Canada - Acoustic Frontiers