Special thanks to Brian Irvine for guiding me throughout this semester on all pieces.
Thanks to the Arco String Quartet for workshopping and performing in the recording of Stalagmite.
Thanks to Aaron McGlinchey for recording the String Quartet.
Thanks to Ryan Rodgers for mixing & mastering Fever Dream and consulting me throughout the process.

Bandcamp

Happenstance

Hello and welcome to the demo album for The Islandmagee Witches, music for stage based on the events of 1711 by Chris McCann.

Check it out with animation on YouTube: https://youtu.be/khZ0yh42grY?si=X9LZbyPfxG1daaE0

About the track:

Dr Victoria McCollum originally commissioned me to write music and sound design for a brand-new play about the Islandmagee Witches. I was inspired to write this based on various plays, the published graphic novel, and the historical references that Dr Andrew Sneddon and Dr Shannon Devlin provided to try and tell the story within a musical context.

After reading historical records, the graphic novel, and the play, I combined sketches I had made to make sense of the story as part of my master's research project at Ulster University, tackling the development of musical ideas.

This is a work of dark historical fiction, and it should be noted that much of this was made up for storytelling. However, it is based on actual events that occurred in the 1700s.

Credits

Special thanks to all those involved in supporting the development of this project.

Dr Victoria McCollum (Producer/Director)

Dr Adam Melvin (Project Supervisor)

Dr Shannon Devlin (Historical Input & Reference)

Isa Lemaitre (Vocals & Lyrics)

Aoiffe White (Vocals & Lyrics)

Aimee Richardson (Narration)

Georgia Rhodes (Lyrical Inspiration on Over the Broad Horizon)

Brian Irvine (Additional Guidance)

The Islandmagee Witches

Pepperoni Hug Spot is a music improvisation ensemble. The band uses a mix of visual and text prompts to generate music. Every performance is unique due to the indeterminate and improvisatory nature of the pieces. Instead of AI, we used Humans to randomly generate the music on the album, and the booklet contains the prompts we fed the Humans!
Composer Chris McCann created the group to experiment with improv and the gamification of music during his master’s degree, taking influence from the likes of Brian Eno & John Zorn. You may hear some familiar sounds that anchor the start of each piece; apart from that, the rest of the piece is entirely unknown.

The current lineup includes:
Christopher-Joe McCann as Prompter
Michael McDowell (Polar ) on Tenor Saxophone
Jordie Sunshine on Bass Guitar
James McConnell on Piano
Jordan McMurray on Guitar
Patrick Moore on Drums

Previous Members Include:
Philip White
Michael Black
Chris Cochrane

Pepperoni Hug Spot Presents Denial is a River In Eygpt

This piece, originally for choir, is about raising awareness for mental health issues. By realising my own symptoms of a panic attack through song.

Symptoms Of Panic (Instrumental)

Symptoms Of Panic (National Youth Choir of Northern Ireland Demo)

Had a blast working on this Horror Short. There’s a lot of freedom in music for Horror films, and finding the right timbre was fun and challenging!

Watch the short film here! https://vimeo.com/670656890?embedded=true&source=vimeo_logo&owner=57810982

Antlers (Short Film Soundtrack)

WHO AM I

Fever Dream

Little Rule

Dabadeba

Symbols In The Cave

Stalagmite (feat. Arco String Quartet)

The Islandmagee Withces - Full Soundtrack

No Other Recourse

The Journey To Knowehead

A Demonic Occurance

Intro

The Demon & Ann Haltridge - Rough Draft

You Sound Like A Cat feat. Philip White

Mavity

Saturation

Part of the improvised album, "Pepperoni Hug Spot Presents Denial Is A River In Eygpt". This is the first track based on the origin of a bag of coffee purchased at Established Coffee in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The entire piece was improvised and played live at AMPS Studios, Conway Mill, Belfast.

The current lineup includes:
Christopher-Joe McCann as the Prompter
Jordie Sunshine on Bass Guitar
Michael McDowell on Tenor Saxophone
Jordan McMurray on Electric Guitar
Patrick Moore of Drums
James McConnell on Piano

São Sebastião

That's Our Summer

Hypoglycemia

Let The Goldfish Sit In The Water A While

Craig's 90

Composer & Sound Designer 🎙️

Check out my work! https://www.omnisonicchris.com

Chris McCann is a composer from Northern Ireland. He started primarily as a drummer and later went on to develop his vocal skills, also finding a passion for composition and sound design. 

As a musician, Chris has been a member of the International award-winning choir Codetta, performing at BBC Last Night of the Proms and with Josh Groban at the Bord Gais Theatre in Dublin and winning the Cork International Choral Festival. As well as being part of Ulster University Choir & Chamber Choir with a notable performance in Carnegie Hall with Paul Mealor & DCINY. He is also a drummer and singer in Belfast’s local cover band KOOSKOOS; the band performs throughout Northern Ireland at weddings and corporate events and, in 2022, won the Bandbridge Buskfest Best Performance category. He has led the MACS Supporting Children & Young People Choir and the Ulster University Jordanstown Community Choir.

Recently, he has worked on a significant project with Ulster University. This was based on the Witches of Islandmagee; the project included a range of media platforms, from graphic novels to VR. I created a bespoke score and generated music for the stage; the score has been used in the VR and animated content. He also designed sounds for the project's stage play which features a live performative soundscape and premiered at Riverside Theatre, Coleraine in 2023. The project has also gained much traction with notable press from the BBC. In 2023, he graduated with an MMus Creative Musicianship degree at Ulster University.

Christopher-Joe McCann

Pinned to spotlight

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