FOLLOW THE LOW LINE!

Once underused, now thriving.

The Low Line is built around a Victorian stock-brick railway viaduct, that straddles the melting pot of cultures in the heart of SE London, via Bankside, London Bridge and Bermondsey.

It's a mighty structure with 150+ years of history, and now home to an exciting regeneration project, breathing life and footfall to a hitherto forgotten industrial-era marvel through new green spaces and smart urban planning.

And it's here, in the shadow of the Shard's pointed tip, that we invite you to walk with us, out from the centre to the suburbs, following the line, to explore the spaces + places of South East London through sound.

CONTAGIOUS WHERE THE VISUAL IS NOT
Words by Sam Mackay

Read Creative Response

ARTIST: JAMES ALEC HARDY
TRACK: DRUID STREET WILDFLOWER MEADOW
LOCATION: DRUID STREET WILDFLOWER MEADOW

As part of the Southwark’s Biodiversity Action plan to make London Bridge one of the capital’s most ecologically diverse business districts, 300sqm of amenity grass and redundant flower beds was replaced with specialist wildflower turf and the area expanded.

Wildflower Meadow on Druid Street is now an urban open habitat of native grasses, wildflowers, and flowering plants. These attract insects and other invertebrates [often butterflies, bees, spiders and millipedes], birds and mammals. The flowering species add a changing palate of colour through the seasons, and in doing so, bring a little piece of countryside into the heart of the city.

In 2006 this land was converted from public highway into a pedestrian route – dividing Druid Street in two, and providing a new metropolitan meadow.

The wildflower planting was introduced by Team London Bridge in partnership with CJS Plants and Southwark Council in 2015. 

BIOGRAPHY

The essence of James Alec Hardy’s work is a continually feeding-back process focused on the impact of technologies on our experience of contemporary life.

Since 2002, he has focused on analogue video systems, manifesting ideas through performance, audio, sculpture, installation and print; culminating in multi-screen totemic video monoliths, shamanic residencies in fields, site-specific installations at international Biennales, to 3 day-long live feedback performances at major cultural institutions.

ARTIST: CHIHIRO ONO
TRACK: A PIECE ON BERMONDSEY TUNNEL
LOCATION: BERMONDSEY STREET TUNNEL

When the northern end of nearby Weston Street was swallowed by the new London Bridge Station, Bermondsey Street Tunnel became the longest of its kind in the country.

This long railway tunnel connects the southern section of Bermondsey Street to Tooley Street and the Thames, and dates back as far as 1836.

Over the course of the last 180+ years, a high concentration of neighbouring tunnels have been built, along with cavernous, subterranean spaces in-between them which would in turn become ale warehouses, bonded wine vaults, and later, night clubs. On hot summer days, the middle of the tunnel remains refreshingly cool – and in the shadows, despite the presence of a new lighting system, capable of displaying 16m colours, which was installed in 2009. The roar of the traffic, and repetitive rhythm of the trains above, are a reminder that London Bridge is a place where journeys begin and end. 

A vast 1970s railway signal box sits atop the southern entrance to the tunnel that leads out to the galleries, boutiques and eateries of Bermondsey Street.

BIOGRAPHY

Chihiro Ono is a Japanese born, London-based, classically trained violinist, violist and composer. She has appeared as a performer with ARCO, Squib-box, Ensemble Modern, CHROMA, Phaedra, London Mozart Players, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra. Her repertoire ranges Baroque [on period instruments], Classical, Contemporary, Experimental Music, Improvisation and Noise. 

Chihiro is inspired by geopolitics, choreography, architecture, cinematography, folkloric music/sounds/movements, everyday sounds of life, and silence. She uses music as a tool to explore human abilities, to link people and places, and to open minds. 

ARTIST: THOMAS STONE
TRACK: CONCURRENCE FROM EWER STREET
LOCATION: EWER STREET

Dating back to the 1700s, Ewer Street follows the arches parallel to Union Street, before turning north to meet Lavington Street.

Hidden along the street we find reminders of local history: an ancient burial ground, Bankside’s famous Clink Bollards, and a memorial to those killed in an air raid during the Blitz. Recently upgraded with a new square and on-street rain garden, a secret Bankside emerges on this stretch of the Low Line.

BIOGRAPHY

Thomas Stone is an electroacoustic composer and musician from London. His practice focuses on live performance, reconciling disparate influences such as his tinnitus, false memories, the physical effect of sound, Victorian séance, bass music and 20th century composition. Refined through presentation in various resonant spaces [from churches to a disused water tank, Cornish coastal caves to the hull of a ship], his compositions use contrabassoon and sampling devices as oscillators for his snare drum. Blurring the boundaries between acoustic and electronic sound sources, his post-classical / post-techno soundscapes use the relatively ugly means of long tones, dissonances and cyclic rhythms to reach moments of austere, fragile beauty.

ARTIST: THROWING SHADE
TRACK: FOREVER CITY
LOCATION: BOROUGH MARKET

A riot of colours, smells and human engagement, Borough Market is today one of the most popular markets in London,

While London’s oldest food market has been located around this triangular site since the 13th century at least [some say 1014, some even earlier], the present Borough Market building is a more recent addition to the land beneath the railway arches just west of London Bridge station and adjacent to Southwark Cathedral.

The market was designed in 1851 by Henry Rose, with some further work in the 1860s by Edward Habershon. A major refurbishment began in 2001, and included the erection of the Grade II-listed South Portico [previously at Covent Garden's Floral Hall, and dismantled when the Royal Opera House was reconstructed in the 1990s] as the market frontage.

BIOGRAPHY

London-born DJ and producer Throwing Shade, aka Nabihah Iqbal, released her debut record on Kassem Mosse’s Ominira imprint in 2013, and has subsequently released music – which has variously been described as 'cosmic r&b’ and ‘digital soul’ – for No Pain In Pop, Happy Skull, and most recently, Ninja Tune. She has twice been commissioned by Tate [a work in response to the 2014 Turner Prize, and a 2017 collaboration with Wolfgang Tillmans on his Tate Tanks live performance programme. She scored her first film soundtrack for On A Clear Day [2017] by Belgian director Robbrecht Desmet.

ARTIST: TOM SZIRTES
TRACK: GIBBON'S RENT
LOCATION: HOLYROOD STREET

Running east to west along the northern end stretch of the railway viaduct, Holyrood Street, nee Henry Street, is a quiet thoroughfare along the Low Line route.

A vast undercroft used for decades for storing ale, wine and spirits opens out from underneath the railway tracks, while the warehouses and offices opposite are home to a variety of creative industries – and one of the areas most revered cocktail bars, which is found opposite the artwork ‘ode’ by Trinity Tristan and Tim Whiting. Warehouses 7, 8 and 9 Holyrood Street were built in the 1900s for storing goods from the docks, before moving them on by rail. A steel gateway leads into Gibbon’s Rent, a narrow secret community garden that is lined on either side with well-tended plants in pots and bits of industrial salvage.

You’ll even find a ‘Little Library’, inviting you to pause and contemplate this little-known wonder with a good book.

BIOGRAPHY

Tom Szirtes is a music composer, producer and digital artist based in London. Tom is best known for his productions under the deep house moniker Shur-i-kan. With a legacy of two studio albums and over fifty releases and remixes for dance music’s most influential record labels including Freerange, Lazy Days, Simple, Anjunadeep and Defected.

Tom likes to explore the ‘space in between’ using a process involving the collage of found sounds. Recording and editing of his improvisation and electronic instruments to produce rich textural soundscapes.

ARTIST: SZJERDENE
TRACK: IRON ROAD
LOCATION: WARDENS GROVE

Wardens Grove is nestled behind the Metal Box Factory, an award-winning workspace building, where at one time decorative tin boxes were produced.

The ‘pocket park’ and rain garden by the railway viaduct provide a leafy backdrop for the Caravan Bankside restaurant, on the corner of Wardens Grove and Great Guildford Street.

BIOGRAPHY

Szjerdene grew up in East London, and spent her formative years quietly developing a unique vocal style that owes as much to her remarkable natural talent as to her unwavering single-mindedness.

Her self-released debut EP ‘Patchwork’ was released in 2012, and after a live video performance caught the ear of Simon Green [AKA Bonobo], it was re-released on Ninja Tune in 2013. Now residing along the scenic canals of Amsterdam, Szjerdene continues to turn heads around the globe, winning hearts and capturing minds with her artfully crafted songs and mesmeric, ethereal vocals.

ARTIST: LOLA DE LA MATA
TRACK: QUEENS OF THE DRAG
LOCATION: OLD UNION YARD ARCHES

Tucked away on Union Street is an enclosed courtyard and hidden walkway, set alongside several arches of the railway viaduct which now house a variety of theatres and restaurants.

Anchored by the Union Theatre – which was established in Bankside over 20 years ago and now stands here in its custom-built new premises – this stretch also features the Spanish Theatre Company’s Cervantes Theatre, aerial fitness gym FlyingFantastic, and The Africa Centre, which supports African culture, enterprise, art, music, and education in the UK. The nearby Over The Road Café is a local favourite, and now sits alongside Tel-Aviv inspired Bala Baya and Italian Macellaio RC.

BIOGRAPHY

Lola de la Mata is a London based French composer, artist and musician specialising in violin, electronics and voice.

Her practice explores the experience as embodied sound through the relationships between the bodies of the instrument, the performer and the architecture. Her recent works focus on her experiences of the female body, AI research and the appropriation of female voices in corporate products. She has collaborated with dance companies and dance artists in Basel, Paris, London and New York, and is currently developing the sound for a dance film in collaboration with choreographer Celina Liesgang. Lola is the curator behind the interdisciplinary artist group Parallel Praxis,which seeks to support and explore the fundamentals of process within individual practice through peer to peer exchange and workshops.

ARTIST: THE MEMORY BAND
TRACK: THE SECRET SPY
LOCATION: FLAT IRON SQUARE

Flat Iron Square foodcourt, right in the heart of Bankside, sits next to a piazza of the same name. It's set within an impressive seven railway arches, along with Grade II listed building Devonshire House, and surrounding the outdoor areas: a fine spot all round, be it for lunch and drinks.

The space features a cluster of carefully selected food trucks, bars and restaurants, as well as Bankside’s live music venue OMEARA, which is owned by Communion Music promotion co-founder Ben Lovett [Mumford & Sons].

BIOGRAPHY

Since 2002, The Memory Band have been using old maps to navigate new directions in British Folk music, where digital machinery and acoustic instruments combine to make ‘traditional music from the future’.

Led by producer and bassist Stephen Cracknell, and with a rolling cast of collaborators, the band mixes field-recordings of natural and industrial sounds with traditional melodies and original compositions. They have also produced music for film and television, and developed a series of associated live projects, including performances of the score of the classic film ‘The Wicker Man’; the ‘Balearic Folk Orchestra’, run in conjunction with film-director Kieran Evans, which re-interprets classic acid-house tracks; and ‘Children Of The Stones’, a musical journey through the British Library Sound Archive.

ARTIST: ERLAND COOPER
TRACK: THE UNDERDOG
LOCATION: UNDERDOG

From 2011 to 2019 The Underdog was an independently-run arts and music bar, located under one of the remaining original arches in London Bridge.

The space was host to some of the most exciting art and music events that the area had to offer [in a section of the railway viaduct that used to be home to several clubs with huge significance to the capital’s dance music culture.] The Grade II listed polychromatic brick that forms this series of arches date from between 1864-6, and were designed by the renowned Victorian architect Charles Henry Driver.

Events, live gigs, and monthly exhibitions curated by the Underdog team captured the zeitgeist of nearby Bermondsey Street, while the continuous rumble of the railway above evoked the industrial heritage of this neighbourhood.

BIOGRAPHY

Hailing from the archipelago of Orkney, composer and multi-instrumentalist Erland Cooper explores the natural world of landscape, memory, people and place. Cooper believes music often reflects the landscape a musician is surrounded with, be it rural, urban, real or imagined. Originally part of acclaimed bands The Magnetic North and Erland & The Carnival, Cooper has a diverse musical history.

ARTIST: WILLIAM DOYLE
TRACK: THE FACADES
LOCATION: THE SHARD

The name for London's tallest building was coined in reference to its tapering, jagged shape that resembles a splinter of glass.

The Shard is a 95-storey office block that forms the hub of the Shard Quarter estate development. A glittering, looming showpiece for the area's redevelopment, it was designed by the internationally-renowned Italian architect Renzo Piano. He was inspired by images of London’s church spires in the paintings of 18th-century Venetian artist Canaletto, along with the site’s location on the banks of the river [and stated that the building would appear as though “a bell tower of the 16th century, or the mast of a great ship”.]

Completed in 2012, the tower is a vertical city containing a hotel, offices, shops, bars and restaurants. An open-air viewing gallery on the 72nd floor marks the highest point open to the public.

BIOGRAPHY

Dorset-born William Doyle formerly performed as East India Youth – a name derived from the area of East London where he lived when he started writing and recording music.

His debut album ‘ Total Strife’, was released in 2013 by Stolen Recordings, and brought him to wider attention when it was nominated for the 2014 Mercury Music Prize and for ‘Independent Album of the Year’ at the 2014 AIM Independent Music Awards. Signing with XL Recordings in 2015, he released his second album ‘Culture of Volume’, which received critical acclaim, including a glowing 5-star review in The Guardian. Taking a hiatus from the East India Youth moniker since 2016, Doyle has continued to release music under his own name, including the 2016 ambient album ‘the dream derealised’, which was created and recorded as a means of focus, during a period of anxiety, panic and dissociative episodes called ‘derealisation’.

ARTIST: SUITMAN JUNGLE
TRACK: YOU KNOW THAT I NEED YOU
LOCATION: LONDON BRIDGE STATION

Between 2013-2018, the redevelopment of London’s oldest railway terminus created a transport hub that can accommodate 90 million passengers per year, while offering a greater number of, and faster connections for travellers.

The first London Bridge station was opened at Tooley Street in 1836 by the London & Greenwich Railway, along with its line as far as Deptford. A second station opened beside it, with the two finally fusing into a single station in 1923. However, the resulting layout remained confusing right up until the reopening in 2018.

Architect Grimshaw’s design is crowned by a rippling reflective canopy, and underpinned by an expansive public concourse which links St Thomas Street to Tooley Street. A new retail arcade cuts through the Victorian archway in the Wester Arcade, and the dark and foreboding Stainer Street road tunnel is now a bright pedestrian route where the huge, stainless steel domes of ceiling artwork 'Me. Here. Now.' by Mark Titchner welcomes travellers at the station’s northern gateway.

BIOGRAPHY

Suitman Jungle is a creation of percussionist Marc Pell. He plays live Jungle and Drum & Bass mash-ups using his voice, a sampler, and a standing cocktail drum kit. Having started on the streets of L.A.’s Hollywood Boulevard busking next to Captain America, the show has toured supporting Goat Girl and Mount Kimbie, performed at Hospital Record’s Croatian Festival Hospitality On The Beach, and received Arts Council England funding to create theatre shows at The Roundhouse and Canada Water Theatre.

ARTIST: LOSSY X SALMON YOUTH CENTRE
TRACK: SOUTHWARK CATHEDRAL
LOCATION: SOUTHWARK CATHEDRAL

Until it gained Cathedral status in 1905, Southwark Cathedral was simply the Parish Church of St Saviour and St Mary Overie [‘over the water’], but the history of the site goes back a lot further than that. In fact it's been the a scene of Christian worship for over 1000 years, and from 1106 until 1538 was part of an Augustinian priory.

The present building retains the basic form of the Gothic structures that were built between 1220-1420, although the nave was rebuilt [twice] in 19th century as the church had fallen into disrepair.

A railway viaduct connecting London Bridge to stations north of the river passes just 18 metres from the southeast corner of the cathedral, and blocks the view from the south side. This was a compromise when the railway was extended in 1852; the alternative being to demolish the building completely to enable a more direct passage for the line. The Cathedral was again threatened soon after this by heavy bombardment during World War II, and shrapnel damage is still visible on the exterior walls of the building.

BIOGRAPHY

Lossy, aka Sam Sharp, is a composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist based in Hackney. Having grown up playing saxophone, he studied classical music at Leeds, then gained a Masters degree in jazz from the Guildhall School, London, in the mid-2000s. Since this time, he has immersed himself in electronic music, building up a formidable arsenal of instruments and equipment. For this track Lossy worked with talented young people from Bermondsey’s Salmon Youth Centre.
Southwark Cathedral

ARTIST: GESTALT
TRACK: GHOST IN THE MACHINE
LOCATION: VINEGAR YARD

Along St Thomas Street, facing Platform 15 of London Bridge Station, giant ants, clambering over railway carriages draw attention to today’s incarnation of Vinegar Yard.

Their creator, the artist Joe Rush and the Mutoid Waste Company, has a working studio in the Yard's old wig factory, where the public can watch him and his team creating his mutant works.

Spilling out of the building, a street food market and bar cater to the crowds, with a vintage and makers market at the eastern end of the Yard selling treasures and pre-loved artefacts through the week. Used as a leather warehouse as recently as 1999, the vacant 19th century warehouse, complete with original loading bays and lifting gear, overlooks Vinegar Yard. It offers a perspective of the area going back to the 1800's, when the site was dominated by industry, workers’ houses and hop warehouses. Vinegar Yard is now at the centre of a major redevelopment plan

BIOGRAPHY

Gestalt is a collaborative Audio/Visual project directed & curated by composers Joel Wells & Abi Wade, with a sole focus on creating experimental music works and soundscapes, which have an intrinsic relationship to visual art. The duo have a passion for collaborating with other visual artists and musicians, exploring alternative ways of creating music which crosses multiple genres, media and culture. Ranging from electronic synthesis, field recording/sampling, classical, cinematic and soundscape pieces. Wells and Wade combine an alternative and experimental approach to sound, composition, performance and instrumentation.

ARTIST: CUNNING FOLK
TRACK: THE BISCUIT FACTORY
LOCATION: THE BISCUIT FACTORY

The Biscuit Factory is a thriving business hub with hundreds of diverse and enterprising companies inhabiting the imposing buildings. It is so called because it was once the home to Peek Freans, innovators of the culinary treasure that is the biscuit, who first opened their gates for business in 1873.

The site became known as "Biscuit Town" due to the enormous scale of operations, leading to almost every local family having a relative working here in some capacity.
The world's first chocolate biscuit was invented here, and the alluring aroma of freshly baked treats permeated the surrounding streets until its closer in 1989.

The buildings serve as a reference to the industrial heritage of the area, providing a sense of nostalgia for the present population.

BIOGRAPHY

Cunning Folk [George Hoyle] is a musician, storyteller & music promoter & folklorist. He has performed worldwide in indie bands, cosmic house acts, experimental music collectives & as a folk artist. He sings songs of place & magic & ritual & songs from the tradition of the British Isles.

He runs the South East London Folklore Society, co-founded the annual Bermondsey Folk Festival & performs regularly at London Dreamtime storytelling events in forgotten corners & secret places.

ARTIST: FROG MORRIS + DARREN CALLOW
TRACK: THE TALE OF SOUTH BERMONDSEY
LOCATION: THE BLUE MARKET

The Blue is the heart of Bermondsey with a history spanning many centuries. The name comes from the Blue Anchor pub which is depicted in ancient form on a map of the area, dating back to 1695.

It's a unique place which cannot be found on any map but is arbitrarily defined by a five-minute walk in any direction from the Blue Market. London's first railway terminal at Spa Road in the 1830's brought commerce to the area, clock work and food manufacturing flourished and becoming known as London's larder with over two hundred stalls lining the road.

In recent times the Blue Market continues to play a central role in bonding this increasingly diverse community together and on market days it is animated by people going about their daily business engaging in small important social interactions that strengthen a constantly evolving local identity which comprises an ever-changing web of global culture.

BIOGRAPHY

Frog Morris is a performance artist and also works as an artist, curator, comedian, designer, stage manager, magic lanternist and bingo caller. He studied Graphic Fine Art at Kent Institute of Art and Design in Canterbury and Masters of Fine Art at Goldsmiths College.

Daren Callow can be seen playing guitar with Dare To Be Charlie and Alan Reed & the Daughters of Expediency. In total his work in bands and as a solo artist covers over 30 years and he has shared the stage with such acts as Travis, The Specials, Gang Of Four, Half Man Half Biscuit, Gene, David Devant & His Spirit Wife and Comsat Angels.