Illustrious Company, a partnership between
Human League and Heaven 17 founder Martyn Ware and Erasure's
Vince Clarke will host the third in a series of events under
the banner Future Of Sound at BAFTA Piccadilly, London on
10 May 2005. I caught up with Martyn, who will be curating the event,
whilst undertaking some final preparations. The idea behind the
event is to 'create a forum for discussion on how sound can be used
in the future' across a number of seemingly disparate disciplines
such as architecture and fine arts, and exploring the means by which
we as individuals interact with sound.
'We're trying to discover new ways of stimulating
responses out of the observer,' explains Ware 'and how you can interpret
sound information in new ways.' To illustrate this ambition, the
Future Of Sound 3 line-up includes Jason Bruges, an international
architect and artist who will be analysing the sounds from the audience
into visual images 'but not in a faddish VJ way,' Ware is keen to
point out hastily. As an architect, Bruges is committed to the concept
of buildings and spaces that interact with you sonically.
Another artist appearing at FOS3 is Luciana
Haill, who will be converting brainwave analysis into sonic
and visual outputs. 'This time the focus is on interaction,' explains
Ware, 'with practical demonstrations, much less lecture-based than
the previous Future Of Sound events.' To this end an audience member
will have electrodes attached to their head to provide the required
sensory inputs for Haill's piece.
Scheduled to appear are a group of 'archaeo-acousticians'
(Paul Devereux / Flinton Chalk / Brian Barritt)
who have created a piece of music which operates at a frequency
'which turns off the conscious mind' according to Martyn Ware. Such
Derren Brown-like shenanigans should be absorbing, just don't take
too much money with you in case you become powerless to defend yourself.
'They discovered that the Irish resonate at a consistent 100khz,'
Ware laughs.
'[Future Of Sound] is a form of "stealth education",'
Ware advises, 'It's aiming to educate and stimulate, with the results
being fed back into a new website to create an open source for dissemination
and discussion.'
I commented on the apparent gulf between albums
such as Heaven 17's 'Penthouse And Pavement' or Human League's first
two albums, and the high conceptual sonic exploration of Illustrious
Company. 'I was always fascinated with abstract sound and how to
find new sound,' counters Martyn, 'Right back to the days before
Human League. Having access to 3D sound [the Lake Huron signal processing
system used by Clarke and Ware on Pretentious and Spectrum
Pursuit Vehicle, the only recorded material from their collaboration
currently available] prompted me to think again. I have become more
and more intolerant of stereo sound, and am now interested in narratives
around 'sound sculptures' or 'sonic architecture'. It's not essentially
about ambient music, but for example we are very much into soundscapes
incorporating the human voice.'
'It's like alchemy really - we're creating a soundscape
world where really you can transmute anything into anything you
want. Mine and Vince's modus operandi is futurism - basically looking
to the future - which is something that music had but seems to have
lost recently. We basically said "What if we could do anything
we wanted? What would inspire you at 17 or 18 years old?" I'm
as excited now as I was when I first started.'
Ware takes me back to a time of DIY synth kits
and a time when there were no samplers. Illustrious Company, he
explains, seeks to redress the 'boring' nature of modern music.
'It's about freeing our minds of the past 25 years
of being in a rut musically. I feel like I have learned more in
the last five years than in the previous twenty.' Ware is referring
to the incorporation of sound design into unexpected places, such
as architecture, which has led to the development of sonic work
by Illustrious Company for stage, film, TV, adverts and art installations.
'It's about seeing the world through childrens'
eyes. My children are nine and seven, and through them I've realised
that if something stimulates the mind, you're going to develop a
passion for it. And we're trying to provide stimulation through
soundscapes.'
I asked if there would be another Clarke and Ware
album. 'I hope so. At the moment I'm just putting together four
years' worth of collaborations with Vince for a multi-CD album -
or possibly DVD - which is yet to be confirmed, but may be called
House Of Illustrious. This will be music created for specific
events rather than just for the sake of it. It's a document of four
years of activity.' With Vince decamped to Portland, Maine and currently
on tour with Erasure, I ask how future collaborations will operate.
Predictably, Martyn Ware is unfazed - with the advent of new ways
of interacting with sound and each other, a mere geographical distance
is a mere triviality 'It really isn't a problem anymore,' Ware reassures.
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