Hidden-by-the-Wall Remix Project (SoundCloud)

Zoviet France - Hidden-By-The Wall (Mean Flow Rework)

Written for and performed by the Miyabi Duo (Hugh Millington and Saki Kato) at Wigmore Hall on 4 June 2021. Commissioned by the Royal Philharmonic Society as part of its 2020/21 RPS Composers Programme.

A work in two movements:
1. bend
2. lullaby for the end/ beginning

in memory of Uncle Charlie

same but different (2021)

the nil star v.2

SEIZURES - Tristesse

Senglar's Black Point Versions

Response (Senglar Palmas Remix)

The Vacant Desire.

Paral·lel & Senmove - Crónico

The title of this album my attempt at translating the Farsi phrase قارچ‌های غربت to English. It comes from the poem "The Sound of Water's Footsteps" by Iranian poet Sohrab Sepehri. 

A more literal translation of the phrase would be Mushrooms of "Ghurba", an originally Arabic word that has several meanings, including senses of estrangement, alienation, loneliness, being away for home, and longing.

I composed many of these pieces during and after Israel's 12 day war on Iran in the summer of 2025. Being  an Iranian living abroad for 15 years, I had never felt Ghurba the way I felt it this summer, as I realized more and more that Iranian lives matter to exactly no one.
Ghurba and all its meanings overshadow most of the pieces in this album. 

The music heard on this post is the final track, which is an improv piece with the same title as the album.

In the album art, I tried to depict a mycelial network creeping up the piano and my body, and expanding into the ground, maybe a thread or two reaching the other side of the world where home is.

As Sepehri's poem says "Who cares if sometimes the mushrooms of ghurba start to grow?" 

You are right Sohrab, nobody does...

Improv 8 - Lullaby for the Benches

NO EAT MAMMAL

r a i n  g u i t a r

While working on this assignment, I found out once again how incredibly hard it is to do very little: Since music for meditation should allow for emptying the mind. It should not distract. And yet, there should be something there that helps one get into a spiritual, contemplative mood, let any thoughts pass and then, a state of non-thinking, of pure presence.

As a consequence, music for this purpose should/can have several properties:

Modal - which allows a stable, calm state of mind

Quietness and space - making sure the music doesn't overwhelm, neither by quantity nor by information overload

Far-eastern sound connotations - As in many "spiritual" purpose-made music releases, this seems to aid obtaining a certain mood, often by raga-type sounds, or sounds that get used in "puja" ceremonies in India (and heard in yoga/spiritual paraphernalia shops all over in places such as Rishikesh).


Since all of these are optional anyway - and are cliché-ridden on top of that -- I chose to simply use an electric guitar, for drone-like sounds, and after considering sitar-like moves, opted against those (for reasons of economy). Everything got recorded into Logic Pro, with generous helpings of delay and reverb, obviously.
I layered six guitar tracks (plus one track for the chime) on top of each other and tried for them not to get into each others' way too much, to allow for the composition to consist of very little information.
Enjoy your meditation!
More on this 323rd weekly Disquiet Junto project (Music for Meditation: Record a piece of music suited to meditation) at:
disquiet.com/0323/2
More on the Disquiet Junto at:
disquiet.com/junto/
Subscribe to project announcements here:
tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/1
Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co:
llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-pr…sic-for-meditation/

Music for Meditation

Music For Meditation [Disquiet0323]

Sylvia Lim is a composer based in the UK. Her works are intimate, exploring a small amount of material in depth. She is interested in the materiality of sound, notions of close listening, perception, rawness and instability.