Shinkansen is a 16' composition evoking memories of a visit to Japan in 1998. Using recordings made during a 3-week stay, the work takes the listener through a theme park, amusement arcade, and leads on to a praying Buddhist monk and soundclouds of tv commercials, all bridged by an illusory inter-city train made by the composer's skillful manipulation of sound materials.

In 2001, The Wire magazine wrote that "… Shinkansen should take its place alongside Herbert Distel's radiophonic classic 'Die Reise' (1988) in a relatively small but inspiring genre of electroacoustic rail fantasias."

Simon Vincent - Shinkansen (2000)

This re-work in two conjoined short movements, takes as its inspiration the idea of a "new world," its hopes and its aspirations. Quietly shifting between major and minor harmonies, it also questions this concept, slowly revealing an expansive sonic landscape through the opening solo triangle, moving through suspended, often unresolved harmonies, finally to reach the moment where distant woodwinds allow a glimpse of what might indeed be possible. 

This remix was submitted to the Deutsche Symphonie Orchester Berlin for their 2014 Remix Competition, is dedicated to the composer/performer Sun Ra, who so often dreamed of a 'new world' and whose 100th birthday was celebrated last year.

https://soundcloud.com/johannfanger/dsoremixed-playlist-2013

Simon Vincent - Promise: Dvorak Re-Work (2013)

Small grains of sound expand and contract again, building massive sound clouds which collide and convolve with one another, taking the listening in search and brief discovery of a lost realm.

Here is what The Wire wrote about it in 1999.

“… Percussive flurries flutter across a placid surface, pursued by sepulchral tones and concertina-like wheezing.
Rare in this genre, Realm sounds fresh and is all too brief.”

Simon Vincent - Realm (1998)

This electroaoustic miniature was commissioned by the Sonic Arts Network (England) as a seasonal sound for their website.

Somewhat sharp and chilly, it captures the bitter cold weather of winter in London in 2003.

Simon Vincent - Winter (2003)

"Transients 1" (composed in January 2009) is a purely improvised electroacoustic work consisting of 3 short movements, and using a diverse range of materials, from smooth FM sounds to 'dirtier', '8-bit'-type voices, in order to create something approaching a "mechanised" music, reflecting a desire to explore new narratives (or non-narratives) of improvisation, rather than compositional methods.

The title of the work reflects the improvised and transitory nature of the resulting sound materials.

© Simon Vincent (BMI), 2009
Published by Vision Of Sound (BMI), 2009

Simon Vincent - Transients 1 - 1a (2009)

Hommage Nr 2 – for Manwel Dimech

Commissioned by Jan Distelmeyer, Mark Butler, and the Akademie der Künste Berlin in 2014 as part of the "Schwindel der Wirklichkeit" Symposium, this part-composed, part-improvised performance uses interviews by Eva Joly and Noam Chomsky as they discuss aspects of corporate corruption and corporate personhood.

The texts are manipulated live in such a way to create simple grains of sound which are then evolved into large clouds and clusters dynamically moved around the performance space.

It was performed by Simon Vincent at the Akademie der Künste, Berlin on 27th September 2014 and is dedicated to the memory of Manwel Dimech.

Simon Vincent - Hommage Nr 2 for Manwel Dimech (2014)

“Le Chiffre” is primarily a study of two sets of materials: an 8-channel playback system, and recordings of stone, dried leaves, ice and an acoustic guitar.

The opening sounds of the piece introduce the playback system itself, moving slowly from left to right over the 8 channels, and consist of little more than “system noise” recorded from the composer’s computer.

Gradually, small, detailed composed studies of the remaining materials are presented, guiding the narrative of the piece through blocks and textures of sounds with varying densities as well as degrees of dryness and resonance.

Originally conceived for 8-channels, this 2-channel version of “Le Chiffre” can only serve as an approximation of the intended spatial experience. It nonetheless provides the listener with a dynamic compact study of space and texture between left and right frontal loudspeakers.


Simon Vincent - Le Chiffre - 2 Channel Version (2010)

Recorded in 2001, this track by Graham Halliwell (alto saxophone/live electronics) and Simon Vincent (live electronics) displays Halliwell's subtle, refined approach to the saxophone within an electroacoustic environment, together with Simon Vincent's fluid electronic improvisations, branching out from the ground-breaking minimal work already recorded and performed by the trio VHF (Vincent/Halliwell/Fell) in the late 90s. 

Graham Halliwell And Simon Vincent - Study Nr2 (2001)

This is the second work in Simon Vincent's electronic 'Comma' series. Works in this series are miniature spontaneous compositions which combine materials from a previously completed work and materials currently being worked on. 

This spontaneity creates new dynamic and surprising relationships between familiar sounds, and in the case of Comma 02 gives rise to voluminous and 
often surreal soundworlds.

Simon Vincent - Comma 02 (2006)

Nominated in 2014 for a Paul Hamlyn Award for Artists, Simon Vincent is a performer and composer of acoustic and electronic music, who challenges the boundaries of genre and musical expression with a highly personal language which he has been developing since the early 1990‘s.

His music has attracted critical praise and radio play from artists such as Gilles Peterson, Mr. Scruff, Fourtet, AtJazz, and has been reviewed internationally in many publications including The Wire, De:Bug, Knowledge Magazine and Kudos.
In constant demand, his unique work has led him to appear worldwide at the Glastonbury Festival, Rotterdam Film Festival, Akademie der Künste (Berlin), ICA London, London Fashion Week, Club Transmediale (Berlin), National Museum (Stockholm), Progression Sessions (London), Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik (Darmstadt), Visiones Sonoras (Mexico City), Making New Waves (Budapest), >Sync 2013, as well as on BBC Radio 1, Ministry of Sound Radio, XFM and FM4-Austria.

Time Out, Straight No Chaser and Jazzwise magazines have all called his work „intelligent“, „spirited“, „delicate“, „impressionistic“, „fresh“, „incredibly individual“, proving his utmost skill in combining new soundscapes with down-to- earth musical structures.

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