Description

Stillness is a solo performance of live sounds, electronics and field recordings, shaped on my experience of Shetland and its soundscapes, and shifting on the balance beam of light and darkness, of the heard and unheard. During this immersive piece, delicate percussive sounds and natural materials such as wood and stone interplay with particular field and marine recordings, inviting the audience on a journey that is experienced through personal perception of time, space, sounds and memory.

When I first arrived on Shetland in April 2018, I was greeted by a canvas of minimal sound textures as I had never experienced before. Following long stretches of time carrying out field recordings in various parts of the isles and immersing myself in its natural conditions and phenomena, nothingness turns into a particular stillness from which so much emerges, embracing the island’s rawness and particular atmosphere. It is this fabric, gleaned in bare, rugged and still atmospheres, that has acted as the catalyst to this performance and its experiential treatment. The audience is invited to immerse in and engage with the detailed textures that are present throughout Stillness, in the unfolding of a work that moves and floats between natural sounds, recorded from above and below the sea’s surface and my live playing, elements that are weaved into a very particular sonic tapestry.

The ideal setting for this performance is with a quadrophonic speaker set-up with the audience sitting or lying down within the speaker formation, but it can also be performed in a stereo format.

Further information about the performance is available here.

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Instrumentation Genre Other

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Tag solo

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Duration 60 minutes

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Instrumentation Electronics [1 player]; Percussion [1 player]

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Performances of this work

Date	Venue	Performer	Link
26/04/2019 (*premiére)	Palazzo De Piro, Mdina, Malta, MT
19/09/2019	Mareel, Lerwick, Scotland, UK
18/02/2021 Stillness performed at Hebridean Dark Skies Festival 2021	An Lanntair, Stornoway, Scotland, UK		Link to festival page