Liminal Music
Creating a place for space
Following on from last weeks’ post in which I shared the video I made for The Modern House, I thought it would be good to share some further context into my interest in architecture, design, and an appreciation of modernist aesthetics.
The article below is a submission I made to The Modernist magazine last year for the Music edition of their magazine. It was unsuccessful, of course, but in the context of last weeks’ post and video, it felt like a good moment to share some of these extended thoughts.
Background Thoughts
My practice as a composer, pianist, musician and performer has been hugely influenced and shaped in recent years by a desire to create music which is fundamentally spacious - uncluttered, less-busy, open music which seeks not to dazzle or impress by dint of any implied virtuosity or ornamentation, but to create the opportunity both for personal and individual fulfilment, alongside a collective, collegiate approach to finding meaning within a creative discipline which means so much to so many of us.
In a modern context, our lives have become entrenched with the busyness and endless scroll of twenty-first century Always-On, causing us to seek ever-more thrilling, captivating, experiences and entertainment to quench our thirst for more. Whilst a completely understandable response, what if, instead - despite our understandable fears - we were able to embrace a more spacious approach to musical participation and appreciation, embracing the tension which exists in the ambiguity create by more - or, perhaps, not filling - space?
In the years since starting following and subsequently joining The Modernist, I have become increasingly interested in twentieth-century design aesthetics, most notably in architectural practices and philosophies including the Bauhaus movement through to Brutalism, alongside Mid-Century interiors, arrangement and use of space. Coupled with an enhanced focus on artists from the De Stijl movement, and the fascinating links between the Rebel Painters and composers of the 1950s, I am especially intrigued by the notion of Form Over Function, regularly asking myself: what does music do; and what is music for?
Lofty questions, of course, for which the scope of this proposal sadly prevents any further examination. However, I find myself often wondering whether artists - of any discipline, but especially as in my case, composers and musicians - can become so preoccupied with conveying meaning, they forget to enable and create the opportunities for listeners to hear; to think; to simply be; to say more by saying less.
Perhaps it speaks to something more embedded in modern culture and our society than we would prefer to acknowledge: that the idea of leaving space can be scary, intimidating even. Sometimes we do not always enjoy or like the feelings it creates, or indeed what we find there. It perhaps even feels a little countercultural - in the face of such development, growth and progress, have we lost the ability to simply listen to music purely for its own sake, rather than having it playing in the background?
Music so often speaks to the places we find hardest to access within ourselves - the most ambiguous, liminal space of all. If we do not allow ourselves to hear it, then it just becomes part - and more - of the noise.
Contextual Examples
Below are three specific personal recent-ish examples I hope will give further insight and context into my thoughts and approach. In turn, they reflect: a performance space; a place which provides ongoing inspiration and a sense of creative calm; and finally, a locality in which I created and made new work influenced by the landscape and the context of the building in which I was working in.
In essence, these three examples relate to the way I understand music to interact with, in and through the use of space.
The Pool - Düsseldorf
In 2023, I was thrilled to be asked to perform in the most fascinating space in the German city of Düsseldorf. The Pool was designed by Paul Schneider-Esleben (father of Florian Schneider, a founder member of Kraftwerk) - it is a hidden, underground structure, formerly a swimming pool, now in use as an art gallery, exhibition and events space.
The natural acoustics of the space created a very special atmosphere, but it was the arrangement of the performance environment which enabled an in-the-round (technically, I guess, in the rectangle!) interaction between me as the performer and the audience. The implications for how the audience hear the music, and how they experienced the performance overall - including my interactions with them - are very interesting to reflect on, and have aided my confidence to lean-in to performance contexts which allow for this sense, not just of informality (which can sometimes infer a supposed lack of importance), but an active approach to embedding a de-formality/de-formalisation to performance contexts which have traditionally been seen and experienced to be the exact opposite.
Deer Shelter Skyspace (James Turrell) - Yorkshire Sculpture Park
One of my favourite places in all the world to visit is the ‘Skyspace’ chamber at YSP, an embedded installation by the artist James Turrell, who is often referred to as the “Master of Light”.
Cocooned away from the world, it is a space in which it is impossible to do anything other than be still; to contemplate; and gaze at the sky…the biggest space of all.
I have sat here for many hours, thinking, musing, soaking up the space; daydreaming, as the clouds float by, creating a constantly-changing view overhead.
Nestled into the hillside, in what used to be a deer shelter, this space is the opposite of threatening - it feels safe and protective…a sanctuary from the rest of life, in which we are all so busy. It is here where I have had some of my best ideas.
The Lengths - Achaphubuil, Scotland
The Lengths is an intriguing and wonderful conversion project by an artist & musician couple, based on the shores of Loch Eil, in the shadow of Ben Nevis. Originally a 1960s primary school, it grew into disrepair, before Susie and Ziggy renovated it over a five year period.
They have begun to offer part of the building to artists from across a wide range of artistic and creative disciplines seeking to spend time working and creating in residence. I was fortunate to spend 4 days there in 2022, working on a number of projects, not least a very recently completed long-form piece titled ‘The Lengths’ which incorporates numerous field recordings and the sound of the in-house art deco-style Morley piano, creating a soundscape of the locality and place in which this renovated, reconstructed building sits.
Apart from the field recordings of the natural environment there, every sound is created on the piano, with significant post-production and processing taking place. There were some serendipitous things - the tuning between the piano there and my own at home worked out pretty well, whilst the reversing beeps of the digger floating across the loch are tuned to an E flat, which worked well (or perhaps, as the musicologists might say, it was a subconscious thing whilst I was there).
They plan to give this recording as an audio gift for their other guests as a memento or reminder of the landscape - whilst working on this piece at home, I found myself diving right back into my memories and imagining being back there again. I guess a soundscape inspired by the landscape, incorporating field recordings of the actual place and elements that surround The Lengths, with some of the musical elements taking their lead from that - resonant piano sounds mimicking the industrial noises that float across the loch; the mood of the music reflecting the sudden changes in weather that seemed to happen so suddenly and without warning; and of course the herons in the wood nearby.
The reconstructed building sits perfectly with the landscape - not dominating or taking away from the stunning, beautiful scenery, but complimenting it, repurposing an old, decaying thing for a future use.
Final Thoughts
The three examples above help to contextualise what I believe represents the variety of what spaciousness can do to create once-in-a-moment musical and performance experiences; help inspire and enthuse creativity; and represent a specific landscape and sense of place through a musical medium.
All three of these spaces utilise twentieth-century approaches in creating places of significance and value for their visitors and participants, creating an overwhelming sense of freedom and importance of what is occurring in the moment. In many ways, none of these spaces are flashy or dictate a sense of ornamentation, but they do create a sense of grandeur and of worth. My musical and creative experiences in them allow me to access deeper parts of myself that I cannot reach by being inauthentic and pursuing all-singing, all-dancing musical experiences.
Despite being an incontrovertible hypocrite - I am too busy, scroll too much and pay an alarmingly small amount of heed to my own thoughts - I am determined to make music which embraces spaciousness, in the belief that it is in the less-certain, in-between, liminal, grey spaces where I will most find what I need.