Bought my first synthesizer and celebrated in the dumbest way I know to. 🤠
Low volume was unintentional, uploaded directly to SoundCloud. Just crank it and hold onto your cheeks.

Brandon - knobs
Machines - Korg Monotron Duo, Dinosaur delay pedal with dying battery

Monotron Duo & dying delay pedal jam, 2/7/24

Then She Reaches for the Gun was formed in 2021 by Mat Ward. At its essence is sound collage, experimentation and the desire to merge and defy genres. Ward invites musicians, sound artists, poets and anyone interested to send him files to be used, abused and showcased ‘as suggested by the work’. They are not always musical but field recordings, spoken word, engine noises and drunken rants. Animals participate a lot too! The raw material is arranged one phrase asks for the next in an alchemical and intuitive process that will most often feature dozens of tracks weaving in and out of each other, colliding, harmonising, arguing and laughing along the way.

Both the aesthetic and the compositional methods use what Frank Zappa called Xenochrony - the mixing together of separately recorded and rhythmically opposing musical phrases to create polyrhythmic and polytempi compositions.The work also features fragmented story telling with the human voice (in many languages) appearing unannounced throughout the tracks offering up snippets of thoughts, conversations, jokes and existential angst. The absurdity of humanities desperate claim to have any real understanding of its place in the universe is revealed through the recorded follies and genuine emotions of the participants in these works. The project is a celebration of experimentation, chance, diversity and community. It pays homage to all musical tastes and genres whilst maintaining a sense of humour and irreverence that is needed to stay sane in the climate of early 21st Century contemporary culture.

I Am Never Freer Than When I Am With You features the following artists

Humans

Adam Meredith - Ford XD with XF front mods/Voice
Ambient Annie - Electronica/Field Recording/Voice
Andrew Harper - Field Recordings
Angostura Elwar -  2 x Behringer CRAVE analog synths/Yamaha P200 electronic piano 
Antonella Eye Porcelluzzi - Text/Voice
Ariad Music - Clarinet/Percussion/Piano
Axel Weiß - Electric Guitar/Robot Voices
Banalytic - experimental Electronics
Belial Pelgrim - Digital Strings/Electronica
Brendan Corey Benson - Electric Guitar
Carolyn Wigston - Voice
Chicago Word Brigade - Electronica
Dan Hewins - Bass Guitar
Dane Renshaw - Drums/Voice
Dani Kirby - Keyboard/Piano/Voice
Dylan Banks - Intonarumori/Voice
Frank Wilke - French Horn/Trombone/Voice
Garbage Truck Disco - Drum programming/Electric Guitar/Joyous Pop Punk
Glenn Ward - Electric Guitar/Skyhooks
Hakan - Moog Voyager XL
Hverheij- Drums/Electric Guitar/Synth
Johnny Python- Bass Guitar/Drum Programming/Electric Guitar/Text/Voice
JZsuperstar - Electric Guitar/Field Recordings/Keyboards
Lady ElectroTrek - Organ
Libby Laksmi - Jazzy Loops/Synth Bass
Loop(c)y - Electric Guitar
Malo Bernard-O’Meara - Drums
Maxx Black - Guitar/Ukulele
Minimal Drone Girl - Cat Wrangling/Field Recordings
Oberlin - Eurorack/Piano
Paolo D’Emilio - Electronica
Paul Miller - Electronic Percussion/Keyboards/Phat Electro Bass
Phil Bywater - Saxophones/Voice
Raul Mainer - DAW Programming/Heavy Metal
Robert Jefferson - Akai Rhythm wolf/GakkenSX-150 ll/Korg Kaosilator/Percussion
Rosin Dust - Violin/Field Recordings
Sarah Megahertz - Speedway Noise
Scratch Kelly - Beats/Electronica
Stan Magendanz - Electronica
Ten Atmospheres - Field Recordings/Synths
Texmex Shaman - Electric Guitar
The Windscale Blues Experiment - Clarinet/Flute/Saxophones
Timothy Korstad - Demons/Electronica
Thomas Bergheim - Bass Guitar/Electric Guitar
Tobias Schmitt - Electronica/Processed Organ/Text
Tuonela - Demons/Electronica
Vartch - Drones/Things/Trousers (not T-shirts)/Voice
Widar’s Spiritual Front - Electronica/Ms Pacman
W:I:L-o’ the-wisp - Bass Guitar/Electric Guitar/Electronica
Wivresse - Electronica/Voice
Zanshin - Acoustic and Processed Drums

Mat Ward - Arrangements/Bass Guitar/Double Bass/Field Recordings/Intonarumori/Marimba/Noise/Percussion/Piano

Dogs
Boogie
Brophy
Buddy
Hancho
Jack
Momo
Neska
Poldo
Senna
Shyamsundara
Star

Oily (cat)
And many cows from Milis, Sardinia

I Am Never Freer Than When I Am With You

Old friends, lost in time,
brilliant minds in cluttered rooms,
stories left untold.
Sleek like jagged glass,
the sound of her name cuts deep,
whispered in terror.

Avon’s smirk betrayed,
their trust a fragile mirror,
shattered with a kiss.
A glance too deadly,
the TARDIS doors slammed shut fast,
time feared her power.

Shaken, never stirred,
a queen of venom and wit,
Bond was not ready.
Love, a loaded gun,
cocked with whispers, fired with doubt,
none were left standing.

A mask worn too long,
laughter hiding heavy storms,
storms she dared to name.
Fur against her skin,
the kindest soul she had met,
gentle hands held tight.

Two stars in one flat,
laughter echoing like ghosts,
whiskey-fueled legends.
Future’s finest chair,
a past life in some office,
painted destiny.






A Cycle of Faces and Fates 3 17 25

Sanatorium

fifo beto

2025-07-27

unrest around us

||| Blind Trust |||
From the album White Noise + Releases 15 October 2025 on all major streaming platforms +
Dedicated to all those who have ridden the trauma train 

Trust
noun
Firm belief in the integrity, ability, or character of a person or thing; confidence or reliance.
"trying to gain our clients' trust; taking it on trust that our friend is telling the truth."
The condition and resulting obligation of having confidence placed in one.
"violated a public trust."
One in which confidence is placed.
- The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

Once broken, trust is often irreparable...
We place our trust in a corrupt society / government / people / technology
(Thus becoming the guinea pigs of behavioural engineering / manipulation)
We are gaslit
Being lied to is normal
We are programmed to believe that we are weak / not enough
We are taught to seek outside ourselves
We are whittled away / divided / disengaged / enslaved
We choose to give our power away due to fear

We allow this

Ignorance is not an excuse

Rise up
Claim your power
Find / know yourself
Reject the narrative
Pain is power
Don't run from it
You are the creator of your experiences
You need nothing but faith in yourself
In you are all things
All possibilities
Be real
At any cost
The cost of illusion is lament
Be a true and trustworthy human being
The rewards are beyond description

Do you trust yourself
To live an authentic life?

Watch the video: https://youtu.be/fYiQFKTn5OU

White Noise

Blind Trust

August 2025 Currently on residency in Italy !
These are the 2nd batch of 3 short sketches using field recordings captured around Montegiovi, Tuscany. With these little works I am experimenting freely with what can be produced from each days sounds - manipulating them and stitching them back together with the aim of producing a long format work at the end of the residency. I have done a dozen or so since arriving a fortnight ago but not sharing them all (some are pretty rubbish). The idea is to have them done by the end of the day (or night) then move on to something fresh the next day. 
I am truly thankful for this opportunity that has been provided for me by the Salamanca Arts Centre in Tasmania and Cultivate Projects/La Baldi residency in Italy and The USA.
And of course the wonderful people of Montegiovi !

Tuscany Experiments 4- 6

Opium Verses from the Western Wind

Spin Me Round (DEMO)

Check out, Ducks on Quack in Space, also on Soundcloud. @user-713093027

Im a Man of Many Thinkings

Bambino: One shop destroyed. Three heads split like overripe melons. One man wounded and one castrated. All in two hours. Just two hours I left you alone. Two hours.
Trinity: Well, you asked me to give you a hand.

A Cycle of Faces and Fates 3 17 25

MMMMudd

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