‘HS2 Ghostlands’ is a multi-disciplinary arts project created in response to the climate emergency and HS2, highlighting issues of deforestation, habitat destruction and biodiversity loss. This project is the result of working on location at 18 specific sites over a 5-month period collecting field recordings and conducting extensive research into HS2 and its environmental impact (the permanent destruction of 108 ancient woodlands and wildlife habitats). The final outcome of the project includes a digital archive of recordings in the form of an interactive sound map, a set of musical instruments hand-built by recycling natural materials found at the locations and a newly composed piece of experimental music titled 'Ghostlands'. 

'Ghostlands' combines all the environmental audio recordings of the locations with original musical compositions created in response to the spaces using found natural materials as instruments as well as original vocal, multi-instrumental and electronic compositions inspired by reading the shapes, colours, textures and structures found in the visual landscape of the woodland as a musical score. Some melodic elements are also inspired by echoing patterns in birdsong heard at the locations and some phrases are directly translated from the birdsong itself by converting the audio data of recordings into midi data which was then assigned the voice of an acoustic piano. The final musical piece uses a mix of traditional acoustic instruments, electronic instruments, vocals, a variety of hardware devices and my own hand-built instruments. By creating instruments from fragments of the landscape such as fallen branches, the musical compositions are not only framed by the sounds of the woodland in the field recordings but are also made from the sites themselves, literally resonating through the dead wood of these locations.

To access the project, explore the sonic archive and interactive sound map, musical composition, photographic documentation of the instruments and locations visit: 

 https://hs2ghostlands.co.uk/

Ghostlands

Sky Scans

Original composition for string quartet, performed live by the Mavron Quartet at the Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff in Ty Cerdd Studios, May 2021. 

Trying something different... First time composing a purely acoustic score for live performance and first time writing for string quartet!

Cairns (Performed live by the Mavron Quartet)

This track was composed specifically for underwater sound installation and musical hydrotherapy sessions. The piece was commissioned by charity Liquid Vibrations as part of the Arts Council England funded project Liquid Listening which supports children with disabilities touring SEN schools across the UK between May and September 2022.

Dyfroedd Pell

Created as part of 'Hearing Landscape', a site-specific project translating 12 Irish landscapes into experimental sound works, produced whilst on residency in East Cork, Ireland.

Copper Coast

Awen (Drombeg)

Grange

‘Voices’ is a new sound installation work created for a commission by Common Ground (working alongside Juneau Projects as part of 'Surroundings', a project by Invisible Dust in collaboration with Humber Museums Partnership, funded by Arts Council England). This installation, 'Voices', is featured alongside the work of five other selected U.K. artists as part of the Common Ground Art Trail, a public exhibition across various locations in North Lincolnshire which aims to highlight issues of biodiversity and wildlife conservation. 'Voices' is on show outside St Lawerence Church, Scunthorpe from 22/09/20 until 04/10/20.

‘Voices’ is an experimental sound work which combines distorted field recordings of birdsong with original vocal and multi-instrumental compositions. The environmental audio recordings were collected in response to the marked increase in the diversity and amount of birdsong experienced over lockdown. Lockdown facilitated an opportunity for deep listening and a more mindful engagement with nature; the thriving wildlife, in an environment less dominated by human activity, highlighted the impact of human interventions on the natural world. We must now question how we move forward after lockdown. This work, which juxtaposes industrial sounds and human voices with electronically manipulated birdsong and other environmental sounds, aims to highlight the decline in UK bird populations and the threat of extinction to many species caused by human interventions such as industrial scale intensive farming and the resulting loss of habitat diversity.

Voices

Soundtrack for a video work shown as part of a sculptural audiovisual installation, 'Almost Touching'. 

Link to video element of the installation available at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzupBsCDaCI&feature=emb_title

Almost Touching

Anima

Experimental composer, pianist, producer and multidisciplinary artist working with sound, film, sculpture and installation.

I am interested in acts of translation and transformation, using sound as a way to describe visual, physical and emotional experience. My work often explores the idea of translating landscapes into sound and combines elements of ambient and electroacoustic music, minimalism and musique concrète. 

Contact: gwension.art@gmail.com

Gwen Sion

Popular tracks