I drove to Bridport in Dorset yesterday (170 miles west of Hastings). It made me want to give up driving. Any road, the reason for the torture – so that i could play with pine branches in the manner of foghorns for One Two One

The branches sound uncannily like foghorns but it’s tricky getting a consistent tone. As a consequence this is the most disciplined work with pine branches i’ve done so far. Friday night was a session with a group of singers and it worked out well, some nice stories of experiences with foghorns in years gone by. When fog came down the horns would start up and create an eerie atmosphere with blasts from different points on the coast overlapping in the foggy beach environment. They could be heard at night along the coast too.

My piece is a bit like a ‘foghorn phase’ (a la Steve Reich) where i will play the blasts from two or more stations in a loop and observe the overlap. I’ve titled it “Amplified Pine Weather Alert System”. My performances will be at 11am and 3pm and for one of these i will be inside a paper sculpture!

Some sounds will follow here soon…