och no och aye
a chono a chey
oh hoca honey
nooch yoch ae
​och aye och no

Trees are beautiful photographic subjects. But I find them difficult to photograph successfully so over the winter months I'm trying some low light photography because at dawn and dusk the colours are more interesting than during the day. The rest is down to patience and some ideas about composition, along with the usual practical hassles around lenses, camera settings and tripod management. These were taken in December at the Dalgety estate near Turriff in Aberdeenshire just before sunset. I can't explain the blue colour. It's nothing to do with white balance or over-saturation with the software. It's as if they're giving off light, like solar cells.

I've updated the documentation of the climate change data sonification project that I began in 2017. You can download the most recent update here and a copy of the Pavilion concept design package here.

not quite the sound I'm after [7:49] (2019)
electric guitar, electronics, driftwood percussion
spring steel rods, glass jars
small motors, baoding balls
Bandcamp

not quite the sound I'm after is a change from my usual long form compositions. Perhaps it could be longer, but I want to compose an album of five or six shorter works to find out what can and can't be done with pieces of less than ten minutes or so. Not that this directs all my choices but I wonder how many people take the time these days to listen to long-form compositions. During a short self-directed residency in 2017 I learned a lot about generating interesting sonic structures and shapes by patiently activating and energising dozens of objects, devices, materials, found and made instruments inside a large space with generous acoustics. The plan is to go through those processes that worked best, to record, edit and transform the recordings and finally create new compositions. So not too much of a change from the electroacoustic method, just shorter outcomes. ​

Investigations into methods of stochastically activating suspended cut glass bowls (demijohns). Small motors, of the kind found in mobile phones, are run from 1.5 volt batteries, attached to wooden blocks (the black object) and suspended on springs above and to the side of the bowls. For installation or performance.

Here you'll find details of the day-to-day, nitty gritty stuff that goes on in my world: processes, methods, experiments (including failures), research, drafts, sketches and observations on sound, music, guitar, improvisation, experimental film-making and photography. Oh and people, they're the most important of all.