Fresh from a field recording trip to Ecuador, the Stroud-based multi-instrumentalist shows us around ahead of a hometown show.
I have lived in Stroud for around three years now. Before that we’d been coming to visit a friend here who’s the musical director of the Giffords Circus band, so Stroud had been on my radar for a while. I’d also read a lot of Laurie Lee and got intoxicated by his version of events.
We’d been living off-grid for quite some time in Dorset. I had a solar-powered studio and was getting frustrated because I could only work two, three hours a day. Then my friend told me how, by smashing everything she wanted in a place into Google, she’d found her ideal spot. I thought I’d give it a go and because Stroud was on my mind, I typed in ‘art studios’, ‘Stroud’ and hit go, and this little blue door caught my eye. It was just a huge twist of fate, really.
Just a short walk from my house, we’re up in the woods. My brother [Merlin] lives on the other side of Stroud, in Southfield. From his house, you can walk into the valleys and keep going for a long time. It feels quite enchanted. I’ve enjoyed spending happy hours in the Slad valley, but also on the Cotswold Way and along the ridge near Selsley Common.
I’ve made great field recordings here, too – even in my garden. We have a little pond with a hydrophone in it to record all the frogs doing their courting songs in spring. We also have a little mic for recording the soil. I’ve got recordings of ants stridulating and some great subterranean sounds from the woods in Chalford.
“I’ve got recordings of ants stridulating and some great subterranean sounds from the woods in Chalford.”
This part of the world does seem to be a focal point for the environmental movement; it feels more energised. The UK has got to a kind of snapping point, I think. After 14 years of pretty disastrous mismanagement, I’m hoping that, with the river issue being waxed onto the political map, there will be more pressure from the ground up.
For my Stroud show, we’re going to have a 19-piece band. And because the Goods Shed has this 360-degree sound system, we’re going to be experimenting. Part of the gig will be with the ensemble, and part with just me. I’m going to be spatialising the sound and getting into the soundscape system with a new loop pedal setup I’ve developed.
