I have been creating electronic music for some time and also have been working on a sound / image / film project about the First World War, since starting out all those years ago.
It is something that I have returned to from time to time, but I was spurred on to try and complete something by the Centenary.
I have created remembrance pieces each year about the start of the war(1914), Picardy(1915), the first use of tanks (1916) and the Battle of Passchendaele (1917) but have added tracks to create this electronic sound collage requiem.
Each track is linked with a specific year of the war and each has it’s own information and artwork attached.
1914
1915 – Wire, Peril
1916 – Mud, Roses, Devil’s Porridge.
1917 – Landships, Army of Death, Wings
1918 – Gas, Swallows
The idea for this track came from a visit to Washington Old Hall and an exhibition of the artwork and writings of the Reverend Cyril Lomax.
He kept journals of his time in France and wrote about Swallows at the frontline which was published in “The Vasculum” – The Journal of the Northumberland and Durham Natural History Society.
I thought it was appropriate to create a final track around Swallows as they are a symbol of hope as they return to their nesting sites after long migrations.
At the end of the track there is a minute silence.
From Little Crosses, released November 18, 2018 – Little Crosses is the culmination of about five years’ work and the whole project has grown in size from the original four tracks but what I can say is it’s a labour of love and a deeply personal response to the horrors of war.
Written, recorded and produced by Museleon
swallows_120711.wav by miastodzwiekow under the Attribution License / Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) – freesound.org/people/miastodzwiekow/sounds/124493/
Video samples by Elen Lackner and Iaris968 on Pixabay, used under the Pixabay fair use licence with some digital processing from Museleon.
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