ARTIST: JOY JOSEPH
TRACK: FELIX'S APPROACH
LOCATION: THE CRYSTAL

"Leveraging Felix’s perspective, I was inspired by his youthful energy, fresh outlook, and hopeful future. As I attempted to convert this structure to musical movement, I longed for the youthful perspective of London’s future. The Crystal’s intelligence and groundbreaking design naturally lent itself to my inspiration and flow. The first movement is one of discovery, much like The Crystal’s state-of-the-art integration of active and passive design elements to be the first in the world to reach BREEAM® Outstanding and LEED® Platinum status. The second movement is one of reflection, which not only translates literally to the reflection of the city on the glass exterior – but in the conversion of solar energy internally to balance natural light within. The third movement is full of energy, much like The Crystal – creating its own energy efficiently and sustainably. The fourth and final movement speaks to the future, the improved quality of life, not just for the city – but for the next generation." [Joy Joseph]

BIOGRAPHY

Joy Joseph began as a live percussionist on the London club scene, but has since then carved out a reputation as a groundbreaking drummer, electronic composer and songwriter. She is one fourth of  Dark Pop band, Black Gold Buffalo and has also recently remixed projects such as “Woman” Anais Aïda featuring Princess Nokia and “Glass” for Dan WhiteHouse all under her production Moniker [kwèyólKidz].

ARTIST: ECKA MORDECAI
TRACK: SWANSONG
LOCATION: STOTHERT & PITT CRANES

"The fourteen Stothert & Pitt cranes located at Royal Victoria Dock are said to represent the swansong of the docklands as an industrial area in the 1960s*, but whose song are they singing?

In Swansong I explore the narrative transition between the cranes as manual workers, to their current decorative status as a marker of heritage in a site designed to attract foreign property investment.

Using juxtapositions of melodic song, spectral-microtonal cello, the sound of London Brick being smashed to dust, and digital noise synthesis in Supercollider, I sing the song of these sublime structures, the downfall of the dockland workers, and the new, largely intangible, industries that have emerged as part of the regeneration of the Royal Victoria Dock. " [Ecka Mordecai]

[Composed, performed, recorded and produced by Ecka Mordecai in East Ham, Newham, November 2020. Engineering and post production by Miles Whittaker.]

BIOGRAPHY

Ecka Mordecai is a cellist, composer and sound artist. She has collaborated with Andrew Chalk and Tom Scott [CIRCÆA], Valerio Tricoli, Lia Mazarri, David Toop + Rie Nakajima, Clive Bell, Vanishing, and Thurston Moore. Solo and group shows include Cafe Oto, Hepworth Gallery, Speicher II, and Christian Marclay’s ‘Liquids’ at White Cube, performing scores by Yoko Ono and George Maciunas.

ARTIST: ROBBIE JUDKINS + MIA KUKATHASAN
TRACK: PASSING CURRENTS
LOCATION: THE ROYAL VICTORIA FOOTBRIDGE

"The Royal Victoria footbridge is a place of transition. A thoroughfare; the water below in constant motion, the nesting birds changing with the seasons, a transient flow of footsteps. As recent residents settling into Newham together, we felt a connection to this liminality.

Our visits to the footbridge involved collecting a variety of recordings using X-Y stereo mics, contact mics, hydrophone, induction coil pick-up and frequency modulated ultrasound.

Constant patterns, sustained tones and rhythms were evident in the electromagnetic and ultrasound recordings whilst more arrhythmical and spontaneous sounds were apparent from the movement of people, birds, docked ships, structural shifts and the water itself. 

Through a process of manipulating recordings, specifically; pitch, EQ, reverb, looping, multi-tracking, bandwidth/resolution, panning as well as use of synthesizers to accompany and jar with these recordings we have been able to create a work reflective of our sonic experience with the Royal Victoria Dock Footbridge." [Robbie Judkins + Mia Kukathasan]

BIOGRAPHIES

Robbie Judkins is a sound artist and musician with a focus on performance, improvisation, composition and broadcasting. He performs as Left Hand Cuts off the Right, is the host of Animal Sounds [Resonance FM], Parallax View [Threads Radio] and member of punk noise group Bruxa Maria.

Mia Kukathasan is a sound artist and experimental performer. She works under the moniker Cleaver Boi and performs with the trio Cleaver Boi and The Hungry Ghost. Mia uses field recordings, found sound, sonic interventions, local oral histories, and electro-accoustic compositions to shape imagined soundscapes.

ARTIST: GALYA BISENGALIEVA
TRACK: WHEN THE SLEEPING GIANT SPEAKS
LOCATION: THE THAMES BARRIER

"They call it the Sleeping Giant, the Thames Barrier is one of the largest movable flood barriers in the world. This sub-aquarian monolith has been silently protecting the city of London for over 36 years. I wanted to sonically capture the architecture that is fully submerged underwater in action, the tension and release that is constantly produced during a storm surge between flowing water and the great immovable object that protects.

My primary focus was on lower frequencies, bass lines and drone with a combination of detuned strings and synthesisers. Tension is produced by a constantly moving rhythmic pattern which is bathed in reverb to mirror the murkiness of the riverbed. Vocals are also prominent in this piece, a nod towards the different ways sound waves travel through water and air, which at one point the listener can hear in the foreground as a duet. It was important to me that the piece had a sense of the actual area itself. I spent a day at the Barrier taking sound recordings during a real forecasted tidal surge. High ambient sounds, wind, rain and bird calls feature at the beginning. I finished by recording and deconstructing a sound that anybody who has been to the Barrier or works there will know well: the warning siren of when the gates are rotating and closing into a defence position to stop the high tide going upstream into the city centre." [Galya Bisengalieva]

ARTIST: DEBBIE KENT
TRACK: FACTORY ROAD
LOCATION: SOUNDWALK ALL ALONG THE FACTORY ROAD [START AT THE HOTEL IBIS IN THE WEST AND LISTEN AS YOU WALK EASTBOUND TO STORE ROAD PUMPING STATION]

"Factory Road is an audio walk designed to be experienced on headphones, along the road that is home to Silvertown's historic Tate & Lyle factory.

Based on field recordings made on Factory Road itself, this 20-minute piece works with a voiceover that considers the act of walking down a very long straight road with no possibility of turning off, through an overlooked industrial zone of east London that is utilitarian, liminal, transient [hotels, storage units] but also fundamental to the area's economic activity [factories and recycling plants], not welcoming to pedestrians but accessible to them. It aims to quietly open up a perspective on this hidden part of the city for appreciation by anyone who cares to walk and listen." [Debbie Kent]

BIOGRAPHY

Debbie Kent is an artist and writer who works with walking, sound and the city and is currently undertaking PhD research at Goldsmiths using audiowalks to map the soundscapes of intensive urban development in Leamouth, Silvertown and the Royal Docks.

ARTIST: AL MACSWEEN
TRACK: DEEP TIME - A BINAURAL JOURNEY THROUGH WOOLWICH FOOT TUNNEL
LOCATION: WOOLWICH FOOT TUNNEL

"This track, which is best experienced with headphones, was recorded live inside Woolwich Foot Tunnel, using binaural microphones to capture an immersive 3D experience of a journey through the length of the tunnel, accompanied by eleven singers, four percussionists, one bass-clarinetist and a passing cyclist.

The piece was shaped quite literally by the physical space, forcing creative ways to coordinate amongst 16 musicians spread along a 504m long tunnel performing music for a moving listener. The composition was designed to interact with the acoustic idiosyncrasies of the space, using the tunnel’s complex echoes and resonant frequencies to inform harmonic, textural and rhythmic properties of the music.

The 3D binaural recording allows the listener to perceive the sound of the tunnel in surround, giving a shifting perspective of its rich acoustic properties and the impression of musicians coming in and out of the foreground as the listener walks through the space." [Al MacSween]

MUSICIANS

Al MacSween, Gareth Keane, Miryam Solomon, Clara Serra López, Genevieve Dawson, Valeria Pozzo, Sim Virdi, Isobel Risk, Georgia Duncan, Lara Laeverenz, Ella Rimmer, Arran Kent, Edward Wakili-Hick, Joost Hendrickx, Dwayne Kilvington, Jake Long. [Recorded by Camilo Tirado]