I have had a vision of creating a cozy comfortable listening environment even before I went to the Living Room Listening Session in Amsterdam. I think the finalisation on the Symbállein project and the end of my time at UAL provide the perfect time for me to try this dream event. Thinking about how I could use the space to blur the lines between performer and audience to make an even closer relation between the two I drew the sketch below. Perhaps I can use it as a guideline for the performance of symballein. The links below are some reference points for what I think the space should be like.
Now that I think that the bulk of the work on the songs themselves are done, I like to focus on where I plan to take them next ahead of the release. Milo has suggested taking the digital files and running them through some analog gear, I really love this idea and think it would be great to make the project as a whole feel more cohesive and the songs sound a little more rough around the edges. I also like the idea of bridging the songs together similar to the way I did in a previous project Wu Wei or an piece mentioned last year ‘44m50s’. There is something about when songs blend and melt into one another that keeps me satisfied and I would love to bring that into this project, its time to experiment…
I have reached a point with the sound work that I think I need some feedback, I feel like it is reaching completion but I am still not totally satisfied. I am really struggling with getting the tracks in their best order, every time I feel like I am getting close there might be one track that feels out of place or shifts the mood just for it to return in the next track.
Milo, Kate and other tutors are enjoying the work and have given some good advice about the readiness of the songs. My friends are keen to know when the project is being released and some are reminding me that the duality of my sound is a part of what makes my music mine.
‘Canoe’ is an album by Metronomes that has helped keep me on track as I progress closer to the end of the Symbállein project. I often think in circles about whether my more percussive tracks work well with my quieter more ambient material. More often than not, when I am thinking in this way, I play Canoe. It is the perfect album for just hanging out, which quickly gets me to of my thought loops. It has a really good balance of lofi/ experimental mixed with ambient sounds without trying to hard to fit into any boxes. When I listen to this album, I am reminded that I can keep going.
I discovered Nala Sinephro this autumn with her work on The Smashing Machine. Although I didn’t particularly enjoy the movie itself, I was entranced by the score. I kept finding myself distracted from what was happening on screen just enjoying the soundtrack. I went home and listened to the rest of her discography and it did not disappoint.
While doing a bit of research into her work I saw that she was performing at the Southbank Centre on the same day as my dads birthday. They were already planning on coming to London so I treated my musical family to see what they would think to the ambient – jazz fusion…
Without a doubt it was one of my favourite live performances, I left feeling so inspired. The stage was set up just right, with the room filled with complete darkness, broken by small lights that shone tightly over the musicians. I loved the way they ebed and flowed effortlessly between songs. My dad and I were both especially taken back by the drummer with his tight percussive chops and gigantic kit.
I would like to share with you three CDs from my collection that have been a source of inspiration for the booklet I plan to make for the release of Symbállein.
I was given this CD by the one of the owners of Atlantis records in hackney when I was buying a small collection of CDs that he didn’t know were there. We got talking about what we like listening to and he told me about his label, then he presented this simple yet effective CD. He told me a bit about how they were made and that cost around £1.50 each to make, I could definitely learn a thing or two from him.
I really like the more robust build quality of this album. The materials and extra red sleeve make make opening this album feel premium and definitely add to the listening experience. However it lacks the personal element that I really like about the others.
This is one of the CDs I found in Atlantis records, I love the hand made feel of this one. It seems as if it was made with one A3 sheet of paper. I wonder if the same artist that made the music had drawn the pictures? I wonder how many copies of this project exist?
Shortly after my trip to the Lake District, I visited Amsterdam to meet with friends that had invited me to share some music with their collective Fulfillment Music Center. Although we had only met briefly at an exhibition in London, they welcomed me with open arms into their ‘Living Room Listening Session’.
It was a beautiful day. Juno welcomed us into their home and prepared food for all involved, while we set up our equipment. Handcrafted merchandise hung in the corner as smoked the exotic cigarettes that were also for sale along side other small trinkets. A crowd of people lay on blankets, sat on pillows or chairs while we performed, they listened intently and helped create a nice, calming atmosphere.
Everything was very intentional and allowed me to open up with this community like we had been friends for a while, even though this was the first time I was meeting a lot of them. Compared to the crowds I have been in here in London which tend to make me feel like I am not part of an in group, it was a total breath of fresh air.
After each performance there was time for questions or comments which was a great way for the audience to participate in the event. In between acts I recorded some of the many different conversations that were being had, so that I could play them back during my set. Similar to my time in the Lake District, I felt compelled to capture this period in song and it felt fitting to use these voices as the backdrop, reversed guitar, being outside of time.
I spent the rest of my few days exploring the streets of Amsterdam trying to learn as many dutch phrases as possible, one afternoon I was looking for stoop waffles when I came across one of the longest market streets I had ever seen. The birds pictured below trying to score an easy meal are where I get the name of the piece ‘Koning Afvalreiger’, which translates to ‘King Trash Heron’!
In march of 2025 I took a trip to the Lake District with my family, it was a much needed break from the hustle and bustle of the busy city. It gave me the chance to slow down, tune back in with nature and focus on the things I find important. Stacking stones became one of my new favourite things, bringing me totally into the present, you would be able to tell where I want as I would leave a trail of them behind me.
After bringing the joy back into awareness, I spent a lot of time listening. The quiet forest, a group of birds, the way the wind crept through branches, stones collapsing, the stillness of the lake, voices echoing through the valley. But one place brought me the most peace of mind, the small flowing stream. I would spend all morning there hearing it burble. I made some recordings of the stream and felt inspired to encapsulate my feelings at the time by using them a backdrop for the piece that is now ‘Untitled(glisten)’.
I’d like to go back to the very beginning of this project, where the seeds were first planted, when I was still working on my previous album, Growing pains in around august of 2023. When sorting through the songs to make the final tracklist, there was one that stood out, clearly out of place. The rest of the album was slow, dark and brooding, encapsulating the uncomfortable period of change and misunderstanding I was going through at the time. But this track, was fun and upbeat, which characterised the next chapter I was unknowingly about to enter.
‘Fish Island’ was made as the first track when I moved in with a bunch of friends, we were always making things no matter how good or bad the purpose was that we were having fun. I remember having a great time experimenting with reamping my drum machine to create some weird effects in my new unfurnished room, synths sprawling across the floor. I decided to leave it in a folder for safe keeping knowing that I might use it later on.
The track below is an early version of ‘Cloud9_’ from July 2024. This was the first track that I made once I got myself a copy of Ableton 12. I experimented for days with all of the different synths and effects and LFOs, although I didn’t bounce any earlier versions, it originally started as an ambient piece. It had been ages since I worked on programming drums inside a DAW so the focus shifted as I thought I had made a good enough foundation for myself to build on. This period was full of creative energy. I fondly remember waking up and opening my laptop that was still in my bed from being up late into the previous night working on the track.
Hello, what you are about to read is personal. But I would like for you to look at the image and read the words that I have written because I believe that this object holds the keys to understanding the work that is becoming ‘Symbállein’.
There is someone that I met in 2025 that has taken on a loose creative mentor position for me. They tasked me with explaining my practice, why I do the work I do, and who it is for. I took this task seriously and looked within myself to find the answers because I knew they would be there, somewhere.
Symbállein is the Ancient Greek root of the word symbol. It quite literally means ‘to bring together’. I came across this term during my research for my audio paper in Byung Chul Han’s book ‘the disappearance of rituals’
“Rituals are also symbolic practices, practices of symballein, in these that they bring people together and create alliance, a wholeness, a community. Symbolism as a medium of community is gradually disappearing.”
I couldn’t think of a more perfect word to describe this period of my creative life:
Bringing together my interests (sound, photography, visual) to create something that is deeply personally mad allowing for a greater level of expression.
Bringing together all of the different types of sound that I have used since I started making music.
Physically bringing together objects (typewriting, hand-binding, CD) to create something that will be unique each time. Memories can be found in physical artefacts and I want people to be able to own what they enjoy.
Planning to bring together people in a time when people feel so isolated and alone. Ultimately this time is about connection and communication, something that I have struggled with for a long time.
Around the same time I was reading through the book, I was looking into symbols to use for as an emblem for this project.
