This work explores a shift of perspective from my current work. By including of elements of personal vocal narrative, which were first explored in ‘abha’ (1995/6), this work emphasises the presence of the artist as an archetypical environmental occupant and participant, a principle that lies at the heart of my work. In the first movement improvised location performance, often a major feature of my work, is reduced to a mere, but significant fragment. In the 2nd and 3rd movements, there are further environmental observations from a personal perspective tracking a particular trajectory of silica usage through human activity.

1st Movement – Crucible.

Silica immersed in the crucible of natural forces. The sea as a dynamic, wave-active element, with the destructive forces of rolling, the breaking and grinding of flint and chert stone, wave motion stresses produce sand over millennia – the raw material containing silica from which glass is manufactured. The human presence has metaphoric as well as literal significance in the responsible and sustainable use and management of this and all our natural resources.

2nd Movement – The Milk Round.

Part 1 – The Dairy Crest Depot.. Preparation for delivery, organization, distribution. The constructive and organizational forces of industrial, metal, mechanical motor motion operate together with human activity where silica is integrated as recyclable packaging for a consumable product.

Part 2 – The Milk Round Delivery. Silica embedded as container vessel within human, animal and mineral, intrinsic and extrinsic elements. Human activity takes place within a context of a wider urban ecosystem, with allusions to the co-existence of animal and human social behaviour in conversation.

3rd Movement – The Glass Collection. (Contains very occasional strong language.)

Following usage and consumption, silica disposal now becomes a recycling process as part of local government policy in an urban social context.

Notes.

1st Movement – Recorded on location at Milford on Sea (17/11/16), 2nd Movement – Recorded at Dairy Crest, Nottingham (21/09/09), 3rd Movement – Recorded at Carlton, Nottingham (05/01/17).
The artist would like to thank Dairy Crest and operative Pete for permission to record on their premises and in the electric milk float. All recordings were made in a single take live on location and have been edited for this work using Cockos Reaper software.

Recorded in binaural stereo using custom in-ear binaural techniques. Microphones DPA4060, recorders Tascam DAP1 (2nd Movement), Sound Devices 744T (1st and 3rd Movements). Optimised for headphone listening.

dallas simpson, january, 2017