Inspired by an experience of phantosmia, a brief yet powerful hallucinated foul smell that sometimes precedes epileptic seizures.

Commissioned by sound festival, Aberdeen, as part of their 'unbound' series.

CREDITS:
Composed by Siôn Parkinson.
Performed by Red Note Ensemble, June 2021.

'Phantosmia' for strings and clarinet (2021). Performed by Red Note Ensemble.

A mix of music by composer Siôn Parkinson. Featuring: 'Blind Love Bad Taste'(2016-17, performed by Rhubaba Choir; 'Phantom Stink'(2021), performed by Red Note Ensemble; 'Stinkhorn for Voice & Theremin' (2020), performed by Siôn Parkinson & Sam Annand.

Stink Mix(2021)

‘Fragrance in the Fungarium’ features the voice of the late author and mushroom expert Roger Phillips reading aloud a list of some of the seventy-six words used to describe the scent of fungi in his bestselling-book ‘Mushrooms’. The recording was made early in February 2022 in Phillips' home in London where he lived for over forty years. 

Roger Phillips died in December 2022 aged 88. After hearing of his death, Parkinson revisited the recording and improvised in response using an electronic instrument called a Deerhorn organ, which, like a theremin, is played entirely without touching. Parkinson describes the song as 'a eulogy of sorts to this extraordinary man, and to the rich, odorous atmospheres he introduced me to’.

Fragrance in the Fungarium

Released: 01 December 2022

Continuing the annual St Andrew’s Day celebrations of Scottish culture, Elizabeth Alker presents a mix of music from some of the established artists and emerging musicians that make up Scotland's prolific ambient and experimental music scenes. Expect music from Edinburgh’s legendary electronic duo Boards of Canada, plus new sounds from Dundee-based composer Siôn Parkinson inspired by time at Hospitalfield House in Arbroath. 

Produced by Alexa Kruger.
A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 3.

Pastoral Blah

'Pastoral Blah' featured on Elizabeth Alker's BB3 Radio 3 show Unclassified: Ambient Scotland

Organo Humano (excerpt)

Heckler is an opera in praise of heckling, its cultural history and unusual connection to hair and sound.

Premiered at Wonderfruit festival, Thailand, December 2023, as part of a three-day live arts and artists’ moving image programme called ‘Unconditional Space’.

See sionparkinson.com for more info.

Heckler (instrumental)

A Bear Came to the Village, Ate Up All the Persons, Bad Bear! / song / dur. 1:40min / third post as artist in residence for Akerman Daly / August / 2014

Bad Bear

A series of improvisations on analogue and modular synthesiser by Sam Annand in response to six scents. Recorded on Tuesday 14 November 2019 at Annand’s home studio in Balmerino, Fife, Scotland.

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Scottish composer, sound-artist, and engineer Sam Annand creates deeply immersive, layered drones and microtonal intervals using analogue and modular synthesiser. Since 2007, he has recorded and produced under the name Architeq.
 
Annand is co-founder of Esk, a collective of artists, musicians and designers inspired by sound who come together to produce installations, events and physical editions. With Esk, Annand set up 'Resono' in 2014, an ongoing project that through acoustic mapping and composition explores some of the most reverberant spaces in Scotland. 

In May 2019, Esk released 'Cupar Grain Silo', the first of the Resono recordings. The record captures the live performance of new music for the disused silo, a 200-feet tall concrete tower built in 1964 by the British Sugar Corporation to store sugar beet.

castoreum

Voice & Theremin: Siôn Parkinson
Modular synthesiser: Sam Annand

Improvised in response to scent designed in collaboration with Clara Weale (Arboretum, Glasgow). Recorded and mixed by Sam Annand at his home studio, Balmerino, Fife, Scotland, on 17th March 2020.

Stinkhorn Music

II: Stinkhorn Music for voice, synth & Theremin

Composed by Siôn Parkinson in response to a series of chemical odours set off at intervals in the performance. Scent design in collaboration with perfumer Clara Weale (Arboretum, Glasgow).

Commissioned by Somerset House, London, as part of their 2019-20 exhibition 'Mushrooms: The Art, Design and Future of Fungi'.

CREDITS:
Composed by Siôn Parkinson.
Voice & theremin by Siôn Parkinson.
Scents provided by The Library of Olfactive Material.
Modular synthesiser by Sam Annand.
Mixed and mastered by Sam Annand.

'Stink Music' for voice, theremin, and modular synthesiser (2020).

Siôn Parkinson is an artist and singer. He combines singing with percussion and field recordings to create exaggerated characters and environments, often exploring themes of love, violence, humour, and bodily intimacy.

Siôn Parkinson

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