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Memory Dream Encounter 2 Micro-Commissions

The Memory Dream Encounter micro-commissions emerged during the development phase of Night Vision in 2021 as part of my research. I invited five composers/sound artists to respond in sound to a visual prompt – each received a variation on a sketch I made during that phase.

As part of this production phase of Night Vision 2022-23, I was delighted to organise another series – with Clara de Asis, Liew Niyomcarn, Ryoko Akama and Go Sing. The visual prompt this time was a photo from film explorations during a residency for Night Vision early in the year. In November 2023, we met to listen to our works and chat.

Many thanks indeed to everyone involved – it was so wonderful to connect and listen together. The pieces are standalone but also a collection that may be aired in the future.

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Reviews – a few Interzone updates

Audio Crackle Non-Music Roundup June 2023

“‘Interzone’ is a mesmerizing and captivating work of experimental sound art. These haunting and beautiful soundscapes of layered vocals and various immersive noises effectively capture the dream-like twilight state that marks the end of the day, and also heralds the coming night…”
https://audiocrackle.blogspot.com/2023/06/non-music-roundup-june-23.html

The Skinny Scottish New Music Round-Up June 2023

“Sound design fans will be well-fed this month. Nichola Scrutton’s Interzone (15 Jun) earns its experimental distinction with innovations in performance and post-production, as well as themes of liminality, or in-betweenness. In-studio, Scrutton performs idiosyncratic vocal techniques, guttural chanting and sharp intakes of breath, which are intermixed with abstract accompaniments, modulating into the notes themselves. Unfamiliar methods of distortion create the sense that this is all a distant dream, or, as Scrutton’s voice becomes more overwhelming and antagonistic, a restless nightmare.” https://www.theskinny.co.uk/music/new-music/scottish-new-music-round-up-june-2023

MUSIC NOW playlist at The Skinny

Delighted Trio from Interzone to has been included on the Music Now: New Scottish Music playlist, 30 Scottish bands and artists. Listen at: MUSIC NOW – Spotify

Late Junction Radio 3

Quartet B was included in Late Junction 9th June 2023
“…Elsewhere in the show, we hear some energetic Cameroonian bikutsi from the late Roger Bekono, experiments on a toy glockenspiel from Australian producer Broken Chip, and vocal reflections on the space between wakefulness and sleep from Glasgow-based composer Nichola Scrutton.” More at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001mdc4

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Interzone Release on Nonclassical

New album Interzone was released on Nonclassical label on 15th June 2023, and is currently available in CD and digital formats.

https://nicholascrutton.bandcamp.com/album/interzone

The Interzone series of tracks on the album were composed with voice, field recordings and archive materials by Nichola Scrutton in her studio, then mixed and mastered by Jim McEwan of Bark Bark Dog Studios. The second second series of voice tracks were recorded live in Solas Sound Studios by Jim McEwan, and then mixed and mastered by Jim at Bark Bark Dog Studios.

Cover art: Nichola Scrutton

Interzone has been supported by the PRS Foundation Open Fund for Music Creators, Creative Scotland and Nonclassical.

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Lying Over Under Another with Zoë Strachan

Lying Over Under Another is a collaborative sound performance with Zoë Strachan.

We were absolutely delighted to have been selected for a Second Life Award by the Edwin Morgan Trust to research, develop and produce the work through 2023. https://edwinmorgantrust.com/2022/10/14/nichola-scrutton-and-zoe-strachan-lying-over-under-another/

Responding to the visual richness of Edwin Morgan’s scrapbooks, held in Archives and Special Collections, we reimagine the scrapbooking and research process through sound and gesture. This improvised performance combines recorded and live sound with spoken word to re-present the diverse materials Morgan collected as bodies (entities) in relation to each other; offering new connections that may be physical, emotional, psychical. Elements of verbal disintegration and moments of absurdity and humour echo Morgan’s own poetic practice and its rootedness in the city of Glasgow.

Supported by the Edwin Morgan Trust through The Second Life Award.

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New Worlds with Martin O’Connor

Image © Nichola Scrutton

New Worlds is a spoken word / sound composition created with writer Martin O’Connor in Autumn 2022. The piece weaves together recordings from Your Voice in Greenock, Inverclyde, Martin’s poems, field and other recordings.

Read more about the project and listen to New Worlds at: http://www.martinoconnor.info/new-worlds.html

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Second Life Award – Edwin Morgan Trust

Lying Over Under Another – a collaboration with Zoë Strachan

Really delighted to have been selected for The Second Life Awards with Zoë Strachan – thank you so much to the  Edwin Morgan Trust for such a fantastic opportunity to develop our collaborative practice and make new work! More info to follow…

Read more about the selected projects at: https://edwinmorgantrust.com/the-second-life-awards-2023/

In case it’s of interest, I also have a Mailing List for occasional news updates – Join Mailing List

@EdMorganTrust
@zoestrachan
@NicholaScrutton

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Dream Stream on Radio Art Zone

Radio Art Zone broadcasts from 18th June – 25th September 2022

I’m delighted to be one of 100 artists creating a 22-hour programme for Radio Art Zone’s 100-day programme for Esch 2022 European Capital of Culture. Radio Art Zone is a project by Mobile Radio and Radio ARA.

Dream Stream – 22nd August 2022

Dream Stream weaves together field recordings, voice, fragments of text, visualisations, stories, performance and archive materials in a sonic contemplation of inner / outer landscapes. Read more, see the full 22-hour itinerary and listen at https://radioart.zone/monday-22-august

In case it’s of interest, I also have a Mailing List for occasional news updates – Join Mailing List

Many thanks to Knut, Sarah, and all at Radio Art Zone.

@RadioArtZone
@Mobile_Radio
@RadioARA
@NicholaScrutton

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Dream Stream

Dream Stream – a Radio Art Zone Commission

Dream Stream was commissioned by Radio Art Zone as part of their 100-day programme inviting 100 artists to create 22-hour long radio works for European Capital of Culture at Esch 2022, Luxembourg. https://radioart.zone

Programme Note

Dream Stream weaves together field recordings, voice, fragments of text, visualisations, stories, performance and archive materials in a sonic contemplation of inner / outer landscapes. The sound of water is a thread across the whole duration. From that constantly shifting ‘surface’, various other sound worlds emerge and recede in a transient dream-like encounter.

In case it’s of interest, I have a Mailing List for occasional news updates – Join Mailing List

Many thanks indeed to Sarah, Knut and all at Radio Art Zone.

Artwork © Nichola Scrutton

@RadioArtZone
@Mobile_Radio
@RadioARA
@NicholaScrutton

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Night Vision

2022-23 – Phase 2

I’m thrilled to say that I have been awarded Creative Scotland funding for the Night Vision project over 2022-23.

As part of a general website overhaul, I have temporarily removed background information, credits and plans for Night Vision so I can update all the details.

In the meantime, I’ll be posting news about select performances and a recording, to be released first on Bandcamp in early April and then across all music platforms on 28th April so please do connect / follow for updates. Many thanks.

Many thanks indeed to everyone who has supported Night Vision.

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Test-Pitting with Zoë Strachan

Test-Pitting – a collaborative residency

Zoë Strachan and I had a two-week residency at Glasgow Project Room in April/May 2022.

In our residency we were engaging in a process of ‘test-pitting’ to develop new work around themes of excavation as a means of opening an aperture onto fragile lines of connection between inner and outer landscapes.

In archaeology a test-pit is a trial, a delving in to reveal layers, fragments of artefacts, the potential of a site of enquiry. It enables a snapshot of composition and decomposition, of life cycle and decay in the earth. Grids and tracing map the process.

We shared some work-in-progress at the end of the residency in an event that included an informal performance and Q+A chat.

Zoë and I have an ongoing collaboration making sound art works and experimental radio combining newly written and found text, composed sound, field recordings, found sound, voice and improvisation.

@zoestrachan
@NicholaScrutton

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Salt Cellar with Zoë Strachan

Salt Cellar – a collaborative radio art work

Zoë Strachan and I first performed Salt Cellar as a live-to-air broadcast on Radiophrenia, 11th February 2022, in the Creative Lab at the CCA Glasgow.

Programme Note

What is a prompt? It’s an inciting, a bringing forth, an augury, an urge, a bringing to light. In this live to broadcast performance, Nichola Scrutton and Zoë Strachan employ a cootie catcher (also known as a salt cellar) to provoke a series of discreet but interlinked improvisations based on texts, photographs and physical objects. Thus they seek to enact an archaeology of embodied memory within the palimpsest of a time-limited performance space.  

Zoë and I collaborate to make sound art/experimental radio combining newly written and found text, composed sound, field recordings, found sound, voice and improvisation.

@zoestrachan
@NicholaScrutton

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Memory Dream Encounter 1 Micro-Commissions

In another strand of research that emerged during Night Vision phase 1 in 2021, I curated a series of micro-commissions.

I responded to the main text through a series of improvised drawings, and photographed fragments of the drawings in process. Those images served as a prompt, a connecting point, a spring board for dialogue.

I invited composers/sound artists Ruth Wiesenfeld, Elisabetta Senesi, Dafna Naphtali, Julia Drouhin and Claire Docherty to create miniature sound compositions in response to the visual prompts and title Memory | Dream | Encounter. The sound compositions stand alone as individual works and as a collection.

On 31st August 2021 the six composers met in a virtual gathering to listen together, and discuss the creative process. Subsequently I edited the works into a programme that was broadcast on Radiophrenia at 9pm on 13th February 2022.

Many thanks indeed to:

Claire Docherty – Pulse dream fragment For Una MacGlone (bass) & Emma Roche (flute) (3’23)
Dafna Naphtali- Striations (3′)
Elisabetta Senesi – Under the Surface (3’50)
Julia Drouhin – Mer4 (3’50)
Nichola Scrutton – Gestures (3’44)
Ruth Wiesenfeld – the wool from which the ribbons were made (3’54)

@NicholaScrutton
@radiophrenia

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Sonic Bothy Updates July 2021

New Work

Sonic Bothy Ensemble produced a new digital work Verbaaaaatum for Tectonics Festival 2021. The festival was online for a month and hosted a fantastic array of digital and streamed music/sound performances. View the archive of the 2021 Tectonics Festival online at Tectonics Glasgow 2021

Hats off to Claire and all at Sonic Bothy for how everything has continued to grow and develop since the first lockdown hit in March 2020. In spite of the challenges, we’ve being actively involved in staying creatively connected to participants/musicians and producing new work, and it’s a joy.

Scottish Awards for New Music

Exciting that Sonic Bothy was shortlisted for The RCS Award for Education/Community Project at New Music Scotland. The awards were announced in an online event in July 2021 – congratulations to the winners. Read more about the category and shortlisted projects here…The RCS Award for Education/Community Project

Sonic Bothy Ensemble Album Fields

Sonic Bothy Ensemble’s debut album Fields is still available at Bandcamp in hard copy and digital formats…

https://sonicbothy.bandcamp.com/album/fields

More Information

For more information on Sonic Bothy Ensemble, and all the charity’s activities, please visit Sonic Bothy’s website.

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Drawing Correspondence Pilot Program

I was thrilled to be one of ten artists selected for the pilot of the Drawing Correspondence Program. The Program was developed and facilitated by artists / educators Anita Taylor, Chloe Briggs and Tania Kovats. In addition, we were fortunate to have guest artists to share and discuss practice.

The intensive six-week development period had an umbrella theme of Grow. Regular self-directed drawing practice was focused through an exciting range of activities and investigations, live online drawing classes, one-to-one and group discussion, sharing and presentations.

We produced a publication at the end of the Program – 10 Letters and 10 Drawings – initially published on Issuu, with a physical publication to follow. Link to Issuu publication

A huge thanks to all on the journey.

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Magnetic North Book – Restless Explorations

Lovely to receive this book Restless Explorations in the post – Magnetic North celebrating 21 years. Congratulations!

The book contains details of all their work & commissions by artists they have collaborated with.

I was delighted to be invited to make a contribution. I feel very fortunate to have support for work-in-progress Night Vision, which I initially developed through a Rough Mix Residency in 2019.

The commissioned image is called On Route and re-presents ideas from that development.

Limited Edition copies are available at the Magnetic North website

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Up Closeness with Zoë Strachan

Up Closeness – a collaborative radio artwork

Zoë Strachan and I continue our exploration of performing live experimental radio artwork. Up Closeness is a dialogue between two green urban spaces, a close look at the local. An attempt to find small connections amid the dislocation from everyday life. Field recordings and voice sounds are combined with found and composed text to animate distinct temporal spaces. Live improvisation and embedded writing practice enact a mimetic re-inhabiting of space.

We first performed Up Closeness as a live broadcast at Radiophrenia Glasgow on 20th November 2020 in CCA Glasgow.

@zoestrachan
@NicholaScrutton

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Sonic Bothy Updates March 2020

Sonic Bothy Ensemble at TUSK Festival 2019

Performances

Sonic Bothy Ensemble Platform
SBE at Platform Glasgow (image © Brian Hartley/Sonic Bothy)

Sonic Bothy Ensemble enjoyed wonderful performances at TUSK Festival in October 2019 (photo above © Sonic Bothy) and at Platform Glasgow in December 2019.

Gateshead Jazz Festival – Covid-19 affected

Tectonics Festival – Covid-19 affected

Sonic Bothy Ensemble had two very exciting performances in the pipe-line – one in late March at The Sage, Gateshead for Gateshead Jazz Festival and one in early May at Tectonics, Old Fruitmarket. Unfortunately both were cancelled or postponed due to lockdown.

Meanwhile Sonic Bothy has resumed some rehearsals online. More news about future events will follow as and when available.

Performance Anxiety Research Project

Since September 2019 I have been Lead Artist on the development of Sonic Bothy’s Performance Anxiety Project, along with Creative Director Claire Docherty (Project Manager) and Malcy Duff who works with Bothy Learning Space (Support Artist). At the core of the project was a series of exploratory workshops, co-led with Malcy. The project aims, through direct experience in workshops, consultation and research, to increase awareness and create resources to support musicians with an ALSN in any aspect of performance anxiety and associated issues. The project has been detailed in an extensive research report, written up at the end of the practical work.

Sonic Bothy Ensemble Album Fields

Sonic Bothy Ensemble’s debut album Fields is still available at Bandcamp in hard copy and digital formats…

More Information

For more information on Sonic Bothy Ensemble, and all the charity’s activities, please visit Sonic Bothy’s website.

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Sonic Bothy Updates Oct 2019

Review – Sonic Bothy Ensemble: Immediate Buzz Shift, CCA, Glasgow

Image © Brian Hartley

 

“Part of the wonder of Sonic Bothy is that each night is individual as a finger print. So it is with Immediate Buzz Shift.” (The Tempohouse)

Read the SBE CCA Review

Performances

Sonic Bothy Ensemble are next performing at TUSK Festival at The Sage in Gateshead, which is very exciting! We’ll be in Hall 2 at 7:10pm on Sunday 13th October 2019.

In June 2019 we had a fantastic time performing at the Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery…Also in June we also had  a wonderful time recording some new work in the studio at Gorbals Sound, Glasgow.

Sonic Bothy Ensemble Debut Album

Sonic Bothy Ensemble’s debut album Fields is available at Bandcamp…

More Information

For more information on Sonic Bothy Ensemble, and all the charity’s activities, please visit Sonic Bothy’s website.

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Residency at Q-O2 in Brussels

Q-O2 residency
Portrait photo © Wendy Kirkup.

I was delighted to be selected for a residency at Q-O2 in Brussels for two weeks May/June 2019. See more info at Q-O2. Part of my priority was to reflect on Night Vision – a new work-in-progress originally developed at Rough Mix Residency with Magnetic North Theatre Company. While I was there I also made some recordings, explored some visual artwork as an extension of the Night Vision text and, and gave an improvised performance with cellist Arnold Noid Haberl as part of a public sharing at the Q-O2 space.

Many thanks indeed to all at Q-O2!

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Sonic Bothy Updates April 2019

Sonic Bothy Ensemble Performances

The next performance is at CCA, Glasgow on 26th April 2019. More details at Sonic Bothy’s Facebook page.

Article in The List magazine

Sonic Bothy article The List

Read the article at the link below…

https://www.list.co.uk/article/107892-sonic-bothy-aims-to-explore-glasgows-new-and-experimental-music-scene-as-a-source-of-dialogue-and-inspiration/

Review of SBE Album at Scots Whae Hae

Sonic Bothy album review Scots Whae Hae

Here’s a link to the review online – scroll down the page to find Sonic Bothy’s album write up…

Scots Whae Hae New Musical Success

More Information

For more information on Sonic Bothy Ensemble, and all the charity’s activities, please visit Sonic Bothy’s website.

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Co-commission – Outspoken Arts

Love Street – The Musical

Love Street Paisley ExpressMartin O’Connor and I collaborated once again  on a co-commission from Outspoken Arts Scotland. We were invited to develop a proposal for a  new theatre production in Paisley called Love Street – The Musical. We spent two months  out and about visiting organisations and gathering stories from people in Paisley who have memories and connections to Love Street.

Love Street research
Research at Paisley Heritage Centre

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Magnetic North Rough Mix Residency

Night Vision – development at Rough Mix 2019

Delighted to be selected for the Magnetic North Rough Mix Residency. The residency took place in Perth Theatre, Scotland for two weeks in January 2019. I explored seed ideas for Night Vision and produced a performance for the public sharing on 18th January 2019.

Many thanks to Nick and all at Magnetic North, and to the artists and performers involved in the residency. Special thanks to Lorna, Neil, Ian and Laurie for the first performance sharing of Night Vision., and Lise for recordings and tech support.

@magnorththeatre
@NicholaScrutton

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Sonic Bothy Updates 2018

181105 Sonic Bothy Diagonal JoyPerformance

Sonic Bothy Ensemble and Bothy Learning Space joined forces for some intensive rehearsals and a big performance, Diagonal Joy, in the Recital Room at City Halls in November 2018.

NominationSonic Bothy ISME 2016 at RCS photo © SB

Everyone’s excited that Sonic Bothy inclusive new music ensemble has been nominated for a Scottish Award For New Music.

More Information

For more information on Sonic Bothy Ensemble, and all the charity’s activities, please visit Sonic Bothy’s website.

 

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The Mark of the Beast review

***** (The Herald)

Read the review online

Presented by Martin O’Connor and Platform
Written and Performed by Martin O’Connor

With Nichola Scrutton and the North East Recovery Community
Platform, Easterhouse 13th-15th April
The Scottish Storytelling Centre 19th April

Creative Team:
Martin O’Connor – Writer and Performer
Nichola Scrutton – Composition/Sound Design
Fergus Dunnet – Set Design
Hana Allen – Stage Management
Davie Green – Lighting Design
Alan McKendrick – Directing Support
Eoin Carey – Image and Production Photography

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Corner Corner Volta Flip | Kate Briggs

Corner Corner Volta Flip 2

I was delighted to collaborate on the audio form for Kate Briggs written piece Corner Corner Volta Flip, which was part of ‘How Forms Live’ at the Mitchell Library for Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art. The work was set up as a headphone installation in the Poet’s Corner.

Read more about Corner Corner Volta Flip

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The Mark of the Beast | Martin O’Connor

Mark of the Beast 1

The Mark of the Beast – a collaboration as composer/sound artist with writer/theatre-maker Martin O’Connor that explores lived experience of alcohol and addiction in Glasgow.

Between November 2015 and March 2016, Martin and I worked with the North East Recovery Community to create materials for a sound installation Good Days Bad Days.  I composed a ‘soundtrack’ from the many voices/stories of participant’s experiences that was projected as an immersive installation at Platform Glasgow. The work was commissioned by GEAC Platform-to-Health and GRAND (Getting Real About Alcohol n Drugs).

The installation was research and development for Martin’s live solo show The Mark of the Beast , for which I re-composed the Good Days Bad Days material in 2018.

***** The Herald (Platform Glasgow)
**** The Wee Review (Scottish Storytelling Centre, Edinburgh)