In early 2015, Sean Dower undertook a residency in the Victorian railway arch space at Beaconsfield Arts. The 2150 square foot arch supports eight railway tracks on the busy line in and out of London’s Waterloo Station and is constructed from layers of brick with lime mortar. The cave-like space is impermeable to light and apart from the rumble of trains overhead, pretty much impermeable to sound.

In this space, Dower assembled a collection of percussion and other sound-making materials that he had collected over many years. The empty tunnel presented aunique and challenging environment in which to work with sound and the strengths and limitations of the space and instruments had to be embraced. Dower subsequently invited musicians to engage in collaborations, which were recorded using a spatial grid of microphones. This allowed the performers and instruments to remain mobile over a large area and captured the natural acoustic reverb of the arch. At the end of the residency a quadraphonic mix was exhibited publicly in the otherwise empty space, played back to eerie effect using four electrostatic speakers placed in the same location as four of the original microphones.

Performers: Eben Bull, Rupert Clervaux and Sean Dower
Stereo mastering for soundcloudby Rupert Clervaux (excerpts above)

For more information or to hear longer versions, please contact:

clervaux@mac.com

More information about: Beaconsfield