As part of Wales Arts Review’s Digithon, enjoy our late night gig with the soundscapes of north Wales artist Mark Albrow.
Mark Albrow says:
I did a degree in Fine Art in Sheffield and joined an experimental audio-visual group whilst trying to make a living from portraiture. The group called Hula became busier than my painting, we utilised film and slide projection when playing live and did an event at the Mappin Art Gallery utilising sound sculptures in an exhibition there. It was recorded and came out as ‘Shadowland’ .Now re-issued on the Klanggalerie label (as are many of the group’s back catalogue). My wife and I moved back to North Wales (Llandudno) in 2014. We met in school in Menai Bridge many moons ago. We have an art studio down the Conwy Valley and are members of the Anglesey Art Group and the Denbighshire Art Society. I am also a member of ‘Oscilloscope’ an experimental electronic music society based in Llanfairfechan.
The Gate Brondanw piece was made from a recording of a gate at Brondanw near Llanfrothen in North Wales.I thought its screech was particularly tuneful so recorded it and combined an extremely slowed down version with a repeated slowed version, added some tones to warm it up a bit and a heartbeat underneath. This is typical of my approach-its akin to using a macro lens on a camera only applying it to sound.
‘Whispers in the Wind’ is the result of dragging textiles over a contact mic and slowing down, stretching and treating the recording. I sometimes multi-track the recordings and put slightly different treatments on to create a different feel and combination of frequencies.
‘Debbie’s’ is made from a metal ‘peace drum’ my wife bought me for a birthday present because when I heard it I felt I had to have one. The resonance generated has an extraordinary effect and I have used it on a few of these pieces-again sometimes slowed stretched and treated. This has some piano on it too. ‘Freak Summer Hailstorm buries cars in Mexico’s Guadalajara’
is a joint effort between my youngest son who works in sound under the name ‘Zillch’ on Bandcamp/soundcloud. He sometimes puts out small looped pieces inviting others to do something with them, so I responded to one that hooked me.
‘Sarah has fairer hair than Mary’ is based on some tapes of my late father’s who was a phonetician. That is his voice calling my elder sister , and that is my elder sister’s voice aged about four or five combined with recordings of vocal exercises. I had not heard these until after his death ten years ago.
Track listing
- Debbie’s 2:45
- Gate Brondanw 3:21
- Freak Summer Hailstorm.. 3:27
- Sarah has fairer hair than Mary 4:00
- Grey and Green 3:15
- Shu door bleeps 3:00
- Parade of Souls 2.=:07
- View from Sychnant Pass 5:27
- Whispers in the Wind 8:00
- Its Misty on the tops 9:20
- Anglesey 18:17
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At Wales Arts Review we believe a healthy thriving creative culture is the backbone of any progressive society. It is clear now that in the wake of the outbreak of the Covid-19 coronavirus, that many people who are vital contributors to the arts and culture of Wales will be taking significant financial hits as a result of necessary decisions taken to counteract the spread of the illness. Working as a freelancer in the arts is more often than not a precarious financial balancing act, particularly in Wales, and so Wales Arts Review is launching this crowdfunder in order to raise an emergency hardship fund for people struggling to make ends meet over the next few weeks due to the cancellation or postponement of projects brought about by Covid-19.
As the disruptions continue to intensify, it is important to remember many artists and workers in the creative industry are self-employed, and will be unable to collect an income as live events, workshops, and productions are cancelled or postponed indefinitely. At Wales Arts Review we have heard of many stories of people now being unable to pay rent or put food the table. We believe it is the responsibility of government, and in many cases the governing bodies of arts funding, to take a lead on these issues, and while we wait for that, Wales Arts Review wants to provide a space for the public to help alleviate some of the anxiety and hardship that is becoming widespread at the moment.
All funds raised will go to those who need it. 100% of all monies raised will be delivered as bursaries (minus the 3% fee of this crowdfunder website). Wales Arts Review will offer full transparency on how the crowdfunder operates, but anonymity is guaranteed for the bursary recipients, unless otherwise agreed.
Mark Albrow
