In Inventions For Radio, Wednesday September 24 at 23.00 CET the first of two programmes presented by The New BBC Radiophonic Workshop. The first is a portrait of composer, performer and sonic artist Lauren Sarah Hayes.
Lauren Sarah Hayes is a composer, performer and sonic artist from Glasgow who specialises in creating bespoke musical performances by exploring unique spaces and new technologies. Her music lies somewhere between contemporary classical, free improvisation, electronic dance music, noise and jazz. She has been an associate of The New BBC Radiophonic Workshop since 2013.
With an abundance of music and freely available technology we can often forget why we are making music in the first place. In this episode I’ve tried to explore two of the main themes that are important within my work. The first aspect is that of the social: how we relate to others; how we can explore these relationships through improvisation; how we make choices about what we do musically based on our own experiences and aesthetic choices. For example, in most of my live electronic music and sonic art, it has been important for me to find ways of making physical the impalpable binary data of digital sound. After spending years playing the piano, when I moved to making music with computers, it made no sense to me that I could click a button and hear a loud powerful sound that involved no effort from me as a performer. This led to a long exploration of finding ways to embody the realm of electronic sound. In the first half of this episode I explore these ideas in relation to four of my musical works.
In the second part of the episode I present three new works. Or rather, I present documents of these works. These are experiments in which I try to explore the importance of space and location. Each site that I visit comes with its own history and sonic qualities. But as a performer I also bring my own narrative and my personal relationship to these locations. In the recordings, I do not try to conceal the fact that I am present as a performer. While I’ve enjoyed playing in some unusual places, these are the first works that I would call site specific.
Lauren Sarah Hayes
For complete information please consult the programme guide
www.laurensarahhayes.com
www.thenewradiophonicworkshop.com
Photo: Tobias Feltus
