I’m pleased to share new album Scenes from the Blue – available from 6th March 2026 on Bandcamp.
The album is available as CD and Digital Download.
Link: Scenes from the Blue at Bandcamp
While Bandcamp is a good option, this album is also streaming across platforms of choice from 20th March 2026.
Link: https://ffm.to/nicholascrutton-scenesfromtheblue
Creative Scotland and Tramway Glasgow for supporting this work.
New single Scene 7 Cyan from my forthcoming album Scenes from the Blue has now been released across all platforms and is available for streaming. Find your preferred platform here:
https://ffm.to/nicholascrutton-scene7cyan
The single is also available at Bandcamp. The album is currently available for pre-orders, and the single is instant access when pre-ordering CD or Digital Download. The album is releasing on 6th March 2026. Listen and pre-order options at:
https://nicholascrutton.bandcamp.com/album/scenes-from-the-blue
Track recorded, composed and mixed by: Nichola Scrutton
Mastered by: Jim McEwan, Bark Bark Dog Studios
Cover design: Pascal Blua
With artwork by Nichola Scrutton
Many thanks to Creative Scotland for supporting this work.
The residency at Hospitalfield was a very welcome break from my usual workspace, and I really appreciated the sea walks and open vistas. The combination of working on own projects and sharing time with the other artists-in-residence worked really well, particularly as some themes in the work resonated across our distinct practices. Everyone was very generous in many ways. I’m currently developing a film iteration of Night Vision. This focused time sparked a new direction in that work, as well as other seed ideas to carry forward in new work.
Many thanks to everyone at Hospitalfield and to all the August 2023 artists.
Night Vision is supported by Creative Scotland.
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.
More information and Scottish tour dates for summer 2022 at Company of Wolves website.
Director – Ewan Downie
Associate Director – Brian Ferguson
Set and Costume Designer – Alisa Kalyanova
Lighting Designer – Benny Goodman
Sound Designer – Nichola Scrutton
Cast – Lawrence Boothman, Esme Baylay, Oat Jenner, Belle Jones, Megan Lovat
Technical Stage Manager – Stephen Cunningham
Wardrobe supervisor and Costume-maker – Catherine Barthram
Producer – Corinne Salisbury
Production Manager – Elleanor Taylor
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
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)
Collaboration as composer/sound designer with writer/theatre-maker Martin O’Connor on his solo show Togail Nàisean/Building a Nation. We toured as part of a double bill with Aisling Oidhche Meadhan Samhraidh/A Midsummer Nights Dream (performed by Daibhidh Walker, directed by Liz Carruthers).
The tour visited venues in Lewis, North Uist, South Uist, Skye, Isle of Mull, Glasgow, Edinburgh. In 2018 the work had a performance at Tramway, Glasgow. Read more about it at Martin’s website here.
Here’s a short clip from the Video Jam at the opening night of the Colombo Art Biennale. The link takes you straight through to the Facebook page of Decibel.lk – a Sri Lankan online news, reviews and events site…just click the image to play…
Thanks to Decibel for that. And big thanks to Shereen Perera for inviting me to score for Video Jam.
Good Days Bad Days was a 5-month research and development collaborative project with writer Martin O’Connor , Glasgow’s North East Recovery Community commissioned by Platform-to-Health and GRAND (Getting Real About Alchohol N Drugs). Participants were engaged in conversations focused on remembering their first and last alcoholic drink, to open up bigger discussions of childhood and family life, living conditions and wider society in Glasgow, and the impact of addiction and recovery on individuals and communities.
These conversations formed the basis of a composed, immersive sound installation, originally staged at Platform Glasgow, and then as a headphone installation at Outskirts Festival in 2016.
Subsequently, I re-designed that material as interactive sound track for Martin’s solo performance Mark of the Beast in 2018 ( “An exceptional piece of work” ***** The Herald ).
Theology with Martin O’Connor has been shortlisted for a CATS 2013-14 award in the Best Music and Sound Category. Announcements will be made on 8th June 2014. See details and the full listings at CATS.
**** Joyce MacMillan The Scotsman
Mary Brennan The Herald
Gareth Vile The Vile Blog
Collaboration with Sarah Tripp on 24 Stops radio artwork
“The work is a sequence of hourly chimes, one for each hour of the day. The chimes combine percussion and spoken word to reflect the character of a given hour and mark the passing of the day.
‘24 Stops’ was written and performed by Sarah Tripp
Composed for radio by Nichola Scrutton.
Percussion was performed by Nichola Scrutton, Fritz Welch and Mark Vernon and recorded by Iain Donnelly.‘24 Stops’ was developed on the inaugural Radio Writing residency at Camden Arts Centre with the support of University College London Hospital Arts.”
24 Stops was written and performed by Sarah Tripp and composed for radio by Nichola Scrutton. Photos © Sarah Tripp
24 Stops was later broadcast on Radiophrenia every hour on the hour for 24 hours in 2016.
Adrian Howell’s Lifeguard at Govanhill Baths.
Lifeguard was a site-specific performance created and performed by Adrian Howells, in collaboration with Mike Brookes, Minty Donald, Rob Drummond, Ira Mandela Siobhan, Jane Mason, Nick Millar and Nichola Scrutton. Produced by National Theatre of Scotland and The Arches in association with Govanhill Baths Community Trust.
Performances: 5th – 27th October 2012, Govanhill Baths, Calder Street, Glasgow.
Exploring the emotional and psychological effects of water, from its therapeutic qualities to our overwhelming fear of it, lifeguard re-evaluates the place of swimming in our lives as a health-promoting and life-saving activity.
Cove Park residency for Lifeguard research and development with Adrian Howells, Minty Donald, Nick Millar, Mike Brookes and National Theatre of Scotland.
I was commissioned by Glasgay! as composer/sound designer for Panic Patterns by Zöe Strachan and Louise Welsh. The work was further supported by a Creative Scotland New Music Award. The play was directed by Alison Peebles and ran from 19th – 30th October at the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow.
“… sound designer Nichola Scrut(t)on’s noises off for comfort…” ****The Herald
“Nichola Scrutton’s sound design plays a starring role…” Broadway World
“…an atmospheric set and soundscape…” ***The Scotsman
“…while Nichola Scrutton’s ghost-radio music……add to a twitchy atmosphere” Times Higher
@zoestrachan
@louisewelsh00
@NicholaScrutton
I composed electroacoustic music for Simpozeum – a live performance by writer and artist Sarah Tripp.
Sarah created three spoken word/gesture performances: customs, objects, people, as part of ‘(Sim-poze-um)’, a collaborative installation event by four Glasgow-based artists created for Glasgow International Festival of Visual Arts. The performances took place in the Jeffrey Room, Mitchell Library, Glasgow. The music for the performances was projected and diffused through a four-channel speaker system.
I composed electroacoustic music for Move Mood, an observational documentary film by writer and artist Sarah Tripp. Screenings at X-Ray at the Persevence, London, Diversions Film Festival, Edinburgh Filmhouse, Artists Film & Video at the BBC Glasgow (in association with the National Gallery of Modern Art and the Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art). Here’s an excerpt from the film.
Composer/sound designer for Adrian Howells on his theatre installation performance The Garden of Adrian, created in collaboration with Adrian Howells, Minty Donald, Mike Brookes and Nick Millar.
Performances at Gilmorehill Theatre, University of Glasgow.
