Opening for Radio Free Derry: ‘Ripples of Inertia Bells’ on Resonance FM

I had the strange experience of ‘opening’ for a 40+ year old clandestine radio station on Friday…

My latest piece ‘Ripples of Inertia Bells’, which you can hear (and read more about) at my Soundcloud page, was broadcast on Resonance last Friday as part of their residency here for City of Culture. But what added to the sense of ‘presence’ of having a piece played ‘live’ (if prerecorded/pre–rendered) on the radio was the unexpected ghostly follow-up…Old tapes from Radio Free Derry, comprising their playing of requests (and some indistinct ambient noises from their studio), broadcasting to Derry, London and the world at large via the net 40+ years later!

Anyway, if you want to read about ‘Ripples of Inertia Bells’ before listening, here’s the blurb:

‘The composition references prominent bells from the Derry~Londonderry soundscape: those of the Guildhall and St Eugene’s (Catholic) Cathedral. These bells are soundmarks, denoting identity and  sonic territory. But they also occupy time, as well as space, binding the present with traditions possessing both durability and inertia. These bells are processed digitally and transposed in pitch and in length, stretched and compressed, based on intervals from the Anglican hymn ‘There is a Green Hill Far Away’, which was composed in the city. These meandering transpositions are intended to evoke the complex nature of Derry’s contested history. The piece’s process takes 1613 seconds, referencing Derry’s Royal charter and the foundation of the city walls.’

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