Today is as good as any to release a very dark ambient noise collection based on some very difficult art…it’s challenging listening but it’s my response to some of the most challenging art created by Francis Bacon.
The original stems have sat on my hard drive for over 20 years and was one of the first experiments in reimagining sounds and music responses to art. I’ve done my best to clean them up especially as music technology has improved massively and with time they have developed into something new without losing the core feeling of the originals. The Melting Man track is new but seemed to fit well with the other three tracks. I suppose that I have tried to convey how these paintings of the Screaming Popes make me feel – noise, anguish, contortion, despair, madness, claustrophobia and not surprisingly that feeling hasn’t changed. Maybe they are also, at times, an expression of my own psyche, especially as Francis Bacon said –
“The greatest art always returns you to the vulnerability of the human situation”
Here are some other quotes from Francis Bacon, with regard to his art, that have influenced this release.
“Velázquez found the perfect balance between the ideal illustration which he was required to produce, and the overwhelming emotion he aroused in the spectator.“
“Even within the most beautiful landscape, in the trees, under the leaves the insects are eating each other; violence is a part of life.“
“The men I painted were all in extreme situations, and the scream is a transcription of their pain.“
Tracklisting –
Triptych I ( Head VI 1949) – artscouncilcollection.org.uk/artwork/head-vi
Triptych II – (Study after Velázquez 1950) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Study_after_Vel%C3%A1zquez
Triptych III – ( Study after Velázquez’s Portrait of Pope Innocent X 1953 ) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Study_after_Vel%C3%A1zquez%27s_Portrait_of_Pope_Innocent_X
The Melting Man – ( Portrait of George Dyer Talking 1966 ) – en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portrait_of_George_Dyer_Talking
Composed, Recorded, Produced by O Johnson / Museleon
Cover Art – Self Portrait as a Screaming Pope – O Johnson / Museleon
Copyright museleon2026
Field recordings used and reimagined, courtesy of the Freesound community under the Creative Commons 0 Licence – Many thanks to freekit, vate, deleted_user, 1josh173, and tom_kaszuba for field recordings.
Best listened through headphones but beware loud sounds.
There is perfection in imperfection
Dedicated to my Father on his birthday, and to Kit whose steadfast belief in my music has kept me going.
museleon 