I’m delighted to be performing at Radiophrenia Lost in Transmission #3 – a special event with Radio Atlas. I’ll be performing a solo set with new film material.
Details
Wednesday 25th February 2026 at 7pm (doors 6.45pm) GMAC Cinema – 5th Floor, Trongate 103, Glasgow Free but ticketed – available through Eventbrite
From Radiophrenia – An evening of subtitled radio works drawn from the Radio Atlas archives. Veteran radio producer and the brains (and ears) behind the organisation, Eleanor McDowall will be there in person to introduce the programme. For this edition we also have a special live performance from Glasgow based composer and sound artist, Nichola Scrutton
Test-pitting is an evolving practice that gestures towards an archaeological process – delving into a site of enquiry to reveal layers of activity, fragmented artefacts, traces of presence. The emerging palimpsest of sound re-imagines lines of connection across time and place, between inner and outer ecologies.
For this Radiophrenia performance, we would like to thank the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency for the live river flow data used in the performance.
We first developed Test-pitting during a collaborative residency at Glasgow Project Room in 2022, which concluded with a public performance of work-in-progress (pictured above).
I work freelance with Sonic Bothy inclusive music/arts charity (2013-current) and occasionally post an update of our activities. Please visit Sonic Bothy’s website for detailed information about the charity’s work, team, community, and programmes. Here’s a link to donate to Sonic Bothy, if that’s of interest – to help continue its work and reach more people. www.sonicbothy.co.uk/donate
Sonic Bothy Ensemble
This November (2024) we were excited to perform twice – at the Glad Cafe for 1.5 Months on 14th, and at CCA Glasgow as part of GIOfest on the 30th. We premiered two new works – Public Inconvenience and Feed.Back. More updates on those on Sonic Bothy’s website and socials.
In 2023, Sonic Bothy Ensemble won the Musicians’ Union Award for New Music Performer/s at the Scottish Awards for New Music for our performance film Verbaaaaatim, which premiered at Tectonics Festival, Glasgow in 2021.
Sessions & Projects
Sonic Bothy has been busy with various strands of activity – I’m delighted to have been co-facilitator on a range of Open Sessions, a Rural Project with Strathearn Arts in Crieff (2023) ; and a new Hospice Project in collaboration with The Art Room, Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice, and young people in palliative care (2024).
In November 2024, I co-presented at the 5th Annual International Symposium for the Arts in Palliative Care (with Caroline Hussey) , which took place at St Columba’s Hospice in Edinburgh.
Delighted to be performing at the Radio Art Zone book party at Iklectik in London, which is also broadcasting live on Resonance Extra / Resonance FM.
“an evening of ten-minute performances by 20 prominent radio artists and experimental musicians featuring performances by: Batophone, Caroline Kraabel, Sofia Vaisman Maturana & Itinerant Sounds, Ed Baxter with Steffan Cennydd, Catherine Kontz, Post Electronics, Shortwave Collective – Hannah Kemp-Welch and Georgia Meunster, C John Weaver & Adam Bohman, Tricia & Sebastian, Nichola Scrutton, Xentos Fray Bentos & John Glyn, King Alfaman & Needle Boy.”
The Radio Art Zone book, curated and edited by Sarah Washington, explores the central themes, concepts and techniques of artist-made radio, emerging from over 20 years practice in the field.
Doors Open Day University of Glasgow Archives and Special Collections
11th September 2023 – Zoë and I perform Lying Over Under Another in the Archives and Special Collections at University of Glasgow. Some scrapbooks will be displayed after the performance during a Q&A exploring how they inform the palimpsest that we create in our sound art collaborations. More info and book tickets at: https://glasgowdoorsopendays.org.uk/in_person_event/lying-over-under-another-performance-followed-by-qa/
Radiophrenia
2nd September 2023 – We are delighted that Lying Over Under Another had its premiere on Saturday 2nd September as a live-to-air broadcast on Radiiophrenia direct from the Creative Lab in the CCA Glasgow. Big thanks to the Radiophrenia team for making it a smooth and special sail on the airwaves as always!
Lying Over Under Another is supported by the Edwin Morgan Trust through The Second Life Award.
A taster film – Zoë Strachan and I working in the Edwin Morgan Trust Archive in Special Collections at University of Glasgow, as part of our Second Life Award project Lying Over Under Another – a new radio art performance inspired by Morgan’s scrapbooks.
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.
Delighted to be a guest artist at GLE4M Festival at Queen Margaret Union, University of Glasgow – Ali Robertson joined me for a duo improvisation in the evening event on 25th May 2023.
“GLE4M 2023 returns with two days of concerts and specially-curated listening spaces in and around the Queen Margaret Union, University of Glasgow. The festival is a collaboration between the 4M netlabel and The Dear Green Bothy, which focusses on environmentally-conscious arts practices working at the intersection of technology and sustainability.”
Vocal Performers: Alison Peebles, Louise Montgomery, Ian Spink, Nerea Bello, Belle Jones. Director/conductor: Nichola Scrutton Live Sound: Stevie Jones Outside Eye: Nicholas Bone Producer: Nichola Scrutton
Night Vision is a contemplative, dynamic, ensemble performance – a vocal sound work that crosses territory between concert, theatre, live art, visual art.
Night Vision live is one of various iterations of the work being produced in 2023. This CCA performance was filmed live, with cinematographer Kirstin McMahon and a roving camera part of the performance.
Vocal Performers: Alison Peebles, Louise Montgomery, Ian Spink, Nerea Bello, Belle Jones. Director/conductor: Nichola Scrutton Cinematographer: Kirstin McMahon Outside Eye: Nicholas Bone Producer: Nichola Scrutton
Many thanks to all at the CCA. Many thanks to Creative Scotland, and to everyone who has supported Night Vision.
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.
Absolutely thrilled to receive an award from the Creative Scotland Open Fund to produce my Night Vision project in 2023. I’ll be sharing various updates along the way. Sign up for updates at Newsletter
Many thanks to everyone who’s supported the development of Night Vision.
Lying Over Under Another – a collaboration with Zoë Strachan
Really delighted to have been selected for a Second Life Award 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…
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.
Really great to team up with Alex South for a one-off performance on 28th May 2022 in Artlink Edinburgh’s exhibition Human Threads at Tramway Glasgow. The exhibition is wonderful, accessible and well worth a visit.
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. We shared some work-in-progress at the end of the residency in a public event that included a performance and a Q+A chat.
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.
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.
In collaboration with Radiophrenia and the Goethe Institut Glasgow ‘Mobile Radiophrenia’ is a cultural exchange and radio residency that will result in five new live broadcast works. The artist duo Mobile Radio (Sarah Washington & Knut Aufermann) from Ürzig in Germany have been invited over to work with five Glasgow based artists or artist duos on an intensive daily collaboration that culminates in a live radio performance at 5pm each day.
I’m delighted to be performing on Thursday 17th Feb – the performances have been devised within the following framework:
Mobile Radio residency – Glasgow Calling Scale live with Nichola Scrutton – 17 February 2022 5:00 pm – 5:30 pm
‘Glasgow Calling Scale: a verbal response series in five parts’ There are five grades starting with the most musical:
Mon 14th Feb – No verbal response Eothen Stearn, Lady Neptune, Knut Aufermann, Sarah Washington.
Tues 15th Feb – Incomprehensible sounds Elina Bry, Knut Aufermann, Sarah Washington.
Weds 16th Feb – Inappropriate words Cindy Islam, Knut Aufermann, Sarah Washington.
Thurs 17th Feb – Confused Nichola Scrutton, Knut Aufermann, Sarah Washington.
Fri 18th Feb – Oriented Rebecca Wilcox, Hannah Ellul, Knut Aufermann, Sarah Washington.
Salt Cellar – live-to-broadcast performance – Zoë Strachan and Nichola Scrutton
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.
Duo collaboration with Aya Kobayashi on a performance as part of Willie Sutherland’s exhibition Christmas Day Down a Goldmine in December 2021. Big thanks to Willie, Yvonne and everyone.
I was delighted to be invited into a duo with Manuel Padding for Giant Tank’s Pot Luck, which was aired on TUSK TV on 6th August 2021. Big thanks to Manuel, and to Ali and Collette for hosting – connect to Giant Tank on their FB page – Giant Tank Facebook
Our duo track is available as part of TUSK Editions #5 – download the album at TUSK Festival’s TUSK Editions Bandcamp.
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 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…
I am delighted to be collaborating as a vocalist with artist Anne Colvin on her moving image artwork/experience Dear Prudence re-imagined. More information about the work is available at Dear Prudence re-imagined.
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., in the hour before lockdown. Here’s a clip…
Delighted to be shortlisted with Alex South for the Scottish Awards for New MusicISM Prize for Collaboration for our Rough Breathing collaboration. The Award event is on 14th April 2020 at the V&A in Dundee.
Please note, as of April 2020, the Rough Breathing sound clip will be removed from the public realm. Many thanks to BBC Radio 3 for the permission to use the clip for a year from the BBC’s live recording of the event. A private clip will be available for professional use – please contact me if you are interested to hear it.
Many thanks to Alasdair Campbell, AC Projects, CCA Glasgow and all at Tectonics Glasgow 2019 for supporting Rough Breathing.
Necessary Notes: A Vocal Response – solo performance as part of the Stolen Voices album launch on 8th February 2020.
Review
“Nichola Scrutton is, as ever, an absolute wonder- her voice can disarm, charm and bewitch….She takes the listener into otherwordly realms, an uncertain space between sleep and consciousness.” (The Tempohouse)
The album launch was part of a creative research project by Rebecca Collins and Johanna Linsley – more here. The event forms part of ‘The Sonic Study Series: Act I Sonic Practice’ and is a pop-up event for the Festival of Creative Learning 2020, University ofEdinburgh. Many thanks to Rebecca and Johanna for the invitation. More info about the event at CCA Stolen Voices.
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. At the core of the project was a series of exploratory workshops, co-led with Malcy Duff who works with Bothy Learning Space. 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.
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.
The Dwelling Series is a triptych of vocal works. Multiple concepts arising from the notion of the title Dwelling gave rise to an interactive process of improvising and recording with MAXMSP, through which I sought to explore a sense of ‘inhabiting’ the work. As inspiration for generating improvised material under this complex umbrella concept of ‘dwelling’ I used three general metaphors to articulate events or states: dust (nature), cycle (flow/journey) and echo (memory).
The compositional process consisted of creating successive vocal improvisations, which were merged together, fully intact, after each improvisation was captured. Manipulation of the captured improvisations was strictly limited to the editing of gestures and textures in time and space to enhance or magnify relationships/conflicts that emerged by chance as each layer was added.
(i) Dwelling/In Dialogue: studio composition (17′).
(ii) Dwelling/Encounters: pre-composed sound and live performance, in which two live performers merged and improvised with a pre-composed soundtrack projected through multiple loud speakers. Swiss vocalist Céline Hänni and I undertook a short intensive residency to explore extended technique vocal improvisation that culminated in the final performance. (12’30). Listen
(iii) Dwelling/In Reflection: live interactive solo performance (18′).
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.
