Partial Facsimile members Alex Merron and Laila Hansen collaborated with musician Jacob Brandt for a unique performance in 5.1 surround sound at the Beastie Toy’s private view exhibition at Vine Street Studios in Brighton. A rehearsal of this performance was released as the three-track album Amidst the Pedals & Cables, and a physical copy is to be included in the British Library Sound Archive.
Partial Facsimile scored a new sound track for this classic expressionist horror film (the first one of its kind according to legendary film critic Roger Ebert), set in a chilling hall at Redoubt Fortress in Eastbourne. This concert was in junction with Scalarama Film Festival, Filmspot and Bang & Olufsen of Brighton & Hove.
Partial Facsimile collective were very excited to have been asked to take part in Fort Process, an international sound- and art festival set at Newhaven Fort. We conducted an informed improvisation concerning the industrial development of the location with a make-up of 5 musicians and 1 visual artist. Jamie Gillett’s brain wave controlled musical instrument, the Neuro-Harp, featured in our work as well as used in a solo performance.
‘Meeching Industrial’ is a tempo based piece exploring the industrial development in Bishopstone and Newhaven. It ranges from the year 1815 to 2015 with each minute representing one decade, with an extended 10-minute ‘future zone’ ending in 2025. The latter suggests the potential for a new industrial era. Each musician is instructed to improvise from historically syncopated audio and film that is mainly sourced locally. The sound will in-turn inspire live digital drawing.
In 477AD the Saxons arrived in Sussex and founded a village called Meeching on the estuary of the River Ouse. The name Meeching comes from the Saxon word meces and means the people or the camp of the sword. In 1579 a disastrous storm destroyed Meeching, and it was rebuilt and re-named Newhaven.
Making works that are accessible to a wide demographic is important in order for art not to be reserved solely for galleries or concert halls, but to rather help it exist in our immediate surroundings. We believe that by tapping into the local history and elicit sounds from spaces not necessarily designed for performances, these structures can be rejuvenated in an educational and ethereal way.
The sound-scape of the last 200 years is reflected in the instrumentation; vocals, blue boulders, pots and pans, double bass, dust bin- and snare drum, piano, electric guitar, synthesizer and iPad. The ‘Future Zone’ section includes a unique brain wave controlled instrument known as the Neuro-Harp constructed by Jamie Gillett. The performance will take place in Newhaven Fort’s ‘Grand Magazine’ as part of the Fort Process international sound-art festival 2014.
In conjunction with the University of Brighton and Bang & Olufsen of Brighton and Hove, Artist collective Partial Facsimile presented a LIVE site-specific surround sound visual and sonic performance in an underground World War 2 air raid shelter.
Based upon the development of communication technology through warfare, 5 musicians, 2 visual artists, a performance artist and a conductor lead the audience through a culturally loaded tunnel system.
Bang & Olufsen’s Beolab 14, a 5.1 home cinema surround sound system, helped the audience explore the sonic properties of the reinforced concrete walls. Those speakers projected the sounds of a telegraph, telephone, radio, an effected electric guitar, cocktail drum kit and an electric double bass.
The musicians listed below improvised to filmic scores and the visual artists in return improvised to the sounds played.
Alex Merron aka Atomsphere: montron/radio/vinyl player
Andrew Booth (Helsinki, Broken Republic): electric stand up bass Ben Baxter (Cranes, Broken Republic): telegraph/telephone
Jo Henderson: Multi-disciplinary visual, improvising musician and writer
Jamie Gillett (The Pohuron Statement, C.O.W): effected electric guitar
Charlie Kininmonth (Rivermonkey): vocals/iPhone
Felicity Thompson (Bearded Loon Festival): live chalk drawing on original blackboard
Cassettelord: live oil painting
Partial Facsimile members Alex Merron and Laila Hansen collaborated with musician Jacob Brandt for a unique performance in 5.1 surround sound at the Beastie Toy’s private view exhibition at Vine Street Studios in Brighton. A rehearsal of this performance was released as the three-track album Amidst the Pedals & Cables, and a physical copy is to be included in the British Library Sound Archive.
