I had the absolute pleasure to be asked by Museum of Consciousness's Curator and founder Carl Smith, to create a sound piece that will be played on the 14th of July 2022.
I exhibited alongside Silver Mouse, Tom Middleton, Samantha Lee Treasure and Nick Jankel-Elliot, I learnt a lot from their practises and grateful to be part of the line-up.
I decided to do my sound journey on Fear, I had already done a more musical piece based on fear in a project last winter and wanted to incorporate these ideas into a meditative journey. I had been reading much work by R D Liang, Gabor Mate and Dr Alexander and I wanted to bring what I had been learning into sound alongside my first-hand experiences of fear.
Since taking part in the Hoffman Process in 2019 it has been a transformative few years where i have learnt a lot about who i am in different forms, my work reflects this process to date.
Dr Gabor Mate has been highly influential to my life over the past few years. I am eternally grateful to have been able to read his work and listen to his incredibly compassionate approaches to trauma, addiction and to people in general. I was lucky enough to have taken part in a couple of the Compassionate Inquiry sessions which really resonated with me a unique way of working with past trauma and inspired my approach to making this work. Having also watching Mate’s Film ‘The Wisdom of Trauma’ an it offers an inspiring insight into his work and worldview.
"No society can understand itself without looking at its shadow side” GABOR Mate 2009
Darkness is within us all. In my own experience, ignoring it and not learning to understand it caused a lot of pain and suffering that not only effected me, but those close to me too.
I wanted to create something dark that reflected how I feel when in fear and to really investigate my dark side and the parts of me that I do not like. Using my understanding of the process of meditation, it is to be present and to accept the thoughts that float into our mind and not shun them away, I want to address them, I want to understand them, and treat the process with respect. And I hope that I have been able to do this in my work. The process started in February 22’ I started to collect samples and try and get an idea of where I would like to take this. I was lucky enough on a visit to see my Mum in France to record me clapping in the church Église Saint-Benoît in a small town called Saint-Benoit-du-sault. I started the sound journey with the claps coming in and out of the piece. This is then built up through the sound piece taking different forms as the journey becomes more intense.
My Grandad worked in the field as an editor for ITN news and worked on crews reporting on many conflicts in the Middle-East, Africa, Yugoslavia, Sri-Lanka and Northern Ireland from the 60's to the early 2000's. He used to tell me of the many horrors he had witnessed. Before he passed away, he gave me an audio library from his life's work which has been a significant source of inspiration for this work and a necessary process to my journey as a producer.
Dr Bruce Alexander’s book ‘The Globalisation of Addiction’ has been very influential to my work. He puts forward the ‘Theory of Dislocation’ which challenges the worlds view on how addiction is a part of our societies. He suggests that it is a systemic problem brought about by what he refers to as ‘The Market God’ an overly zealous belief in the ‘Free-Market’ society and the way in which from the industrial revolution it has globalised, and taken many victims by marginalisation, disruption and extortion. I resonate with this theory as I have felt dislocated from a lot of things through fear, fear of failure and fear of not being good enough or fitting in. Many of us feel the same, and these fears have taken me to dark places where I could not cope.
I hope that this piece of work can open a discussion with those who have had a similar journey to me but also to raise awareness around these issues which are in the growing mental health crisis within our world. If anyone is suffering with suicidal thoughts or problems in the past there is help from charities such as CALM and The Listening Post, as well as talking therapies and talking to those you can trust, I have personally benefitted from all of these.
I am so grateful to be part of the process in which I could share my work and have a connection with others, I really appreciate the feedback and questions I received after playing this piece and I hope that there are further opportunities to do so.
Each person is a rabbit hole in which we can all share our experience and learn; I feel we have so much to offer through authentic collective creative experiences and expressions. I hope that I can continue to work and connect with others in all forms of creativity.
Although this is a dark sound piece the aim is that there is a positive and cathartic experience for the listener to get to the roots of our fears in this medium. When we can understand our fears, we can treat them with compassion and grow as individuals.
R D Liang - “There are three things Human beings are afraid of; Death, Other people and their own minds”
I am dedicating this work to my Grandad Fred, to my Mum Jane and to Mairi for her support. All have been incredibly influential in my life to which I owe so much. I miss Fred, I am sorry to my Mum for putting her through years of stress due to my erratic and fear driven behaviour, and I am eternally thankful to Mairi for her support. I would also like to give thanks to nikos for putting me in touch with carl.
This is the transmission I played on the day, and I am incredibly grateful to be part of the process and to have connected with those that came.
Please when listening to this sit comfortably with no distractions if possible.
I have also made the Sound Piece a free download, please like and share to anyone who might be interested.
Me at the Apiary studios 14th July 2022 talking about the transmission and then a Q&A with the audience.
follow my soundcloud for more sound scapes and updates.
bout this event, Artists and the transmissions.
The Museum of Consciousness at Apiary Studios, Hackney, London. 14th July
Following our sell out show at Balliol College, Oxford University which was headlined by Jon Hopkins, Eileen Hall and Tom Middleton the next 4 hour edition of Museum of Consciousness will take place at Apiary Studios, Hackney, London on the 14th July.
This is an intimate space for a 4 hour deep listening experience with 5 artists so the tickets will be available on a strictly first come, first served basis....
The Museum of Consciousness contains a multitude of artists, mavericks and consciousness hackers who have chosen to transmit their most treasured altered states and philosophical journeys. These journeys are intended to shift your awareness, adventure your senses and enable curious ways of seeing and being in the World.
The museum follows a tripartite, cyclical structure designed to act as an engine for creative regeneration between the artist and the audience, thereby empowering both in equal measure:
1. Transmission - where the artist transmits their artwork, i.e. their audio sample, to the audience.
2. Experience - where the audience integrates and spends time processing the artwork.
3. Feedback - where the audience directly communicates their thoughts and feelings back to the artist in order to help them learn and potentially iterate on their artwork, creating a full cycle of growth.
Contributions from the Artists:
1) Silvermouse
Title: Psychoactive Project: Signal Test #3 - Exploring the question ‘Can the music be its own psychedelic?’
Silvermouse will be performing a short set of their unique livetronica music accompanied by the consciousness-altering signals of Monroe Sound Science. An evolution from binaural beats, which typically accompany meditation music and are a headphones-only technology, Silvermouse –in collaboration with the Monroe Institute– are exploring the potential of sound science as a facilitator of live ecstatic experience. This is not a sound bath - more of a sound tsunami - a fusion of UK techno and US jam rock designed to facilitate deep inner journeys in a live concert setting. While there is extensive research in lab settings, this will be Signal Test #3 - only the third time these signals have been engaged with and tested with a live audience.
Artist Bio: Silvermouse weaves mind-bending psychedelic soundscapes, drawing from roots in UK rave culture and American jam rock. Distinguished by bass and violin, grounding synths, percussive rhythms, flying guitar riffs, and signature spiralling improvisational live performances, the duo’s muses are nature and cosmic existence. Their current project, ‘Psychoactive,’ is a deep journeying dive into the potential of music as a psychoactive entity. The pair have been elevating their sound with spatial audio and Monroe Sound Science, using brainwave entrainment signals to create a safe container and a trigger for altered states, consciousness exploration, and mind-soul axis elevation.
2) Tom Middleton
Title: The Paradox of Staying Awake to Make Sleep Music.
For over a decade since pivoting from touring as a Dj having performed to millions around the world, Tom has been pioneering functional music and soundscapes to help with problems such as anxiety, sleep and focus.
Tom will present one of his best performing sleep inducing soundscapes designed to lower heart and breathing rate, reduce cortisol and blood pressure and instil a deep sense of tranquillity, safety and presence. Optionally, curious attendees can check their pulse rates at the start and the end of the session to measure their own entrainment response to the music.
Tom will then discuss the importance of investing in sleep for health span and well-being and the inherent challenges and clear paradox of having to remain focused whilst creating hours of music intentionally designed to help you deeply relax and drift off to sleep. He will outline the latest developments in spatial sound, sensory congruence and tech solutions to expand the perception, reception and transformation of sound alongside other senses.
Artist Bio: Tom Middleton is an award-winning creator of functional and therapeutic music. He is a certified Sleep Science Coach and currently studying a Masters in Neuroscience and Psychology of Music. He has set up a Sensory Design & Wellness Innovation studio with an in-house neuroscience lab. Leveraging sensory science and transformative technologies to reduce suffering and create impactful solutions. With content for platforms like Calm, Sleep Cycle and Apple Music he’s helping millions sleep better every night, and work more productively during the day
3) Samantha Lee Treasure
Title: Out-of-body, into android
The self and environment in out-of-body experiences (OBEs) are argued to be based on a cache of snapshots from our lived environment, a mental model that steps in to provide stability and clarity when our ‘live’ connection is disrupted. Strikingly, as our environment shifts towards the virtual, OBE reports are increasingly reflecting this move, with accounts of android bodies and floating computer screens. This astral induction practice is inspired by an out-of-body experience that involved toggling from third person to first person view into an android body with magnetic palms. The audio draws from (1) a 1984 OBE study by psychiatrists Gabbard & Twemlow; (2) Philip K Dick's A Maze of Death; and (3) a vibrational state experience triggered by 90s gangster rap. Together these elements create the kinaesthetic effect of easing and jarring out of the physical body into another form.
Artist Bio: Samantha Lee Treasure is a medical anthropology student at SOAS University of London. She is currently based in South Korea where she is researching out-of-body experiences. Her first book, exploring the effects of technology and fiction on a variety of supernatural and hallucinatory experiences, is due to be released with Inner Traditions in 2023.
4) Josh Healey
Title: The Realm of the Hungry Ghosts.
Josh is fascinated by how fear affects us, how it operates within us and how it dictates our behaviours. He has collected a library of sounds and samples to create a soundscape entitled ‘The Realm of the Hungry Ghosts’. This comes from a concept within East Asian beliefs and traditions whereby individuals are driven by intense emotional and animalistic needs. Fear is an underestimated emotion that seems not to provoke the attention that it deserves. This work is a reflection of the artist's personal experience of fear. This work is designed to be a meditative audio piece with a mixture of intense frequencies. Its aim is to enable the listener to channel their thoughts and capture their feelings of their fear and to reflect on their own relationship with fear.
"No society can understand itself without looking at its shadow side' Gabor Mate 2009
Artist Bio: Josh Healey is a multi-media artist based in South London. Since leaving art college in 2008 he continued to expand his creativity through both his work and art - and decided to go back to university in 2020 to study design. Music and Sound has played a massive part in his life, and he continues to develop his ideas.
5) Nick Jankel-Elliott
Title: HeartCore You Know the Score: Transformation Without the Potions.
Music, when curated into a high-fidelity journey using epic music selected to evoke specific emotional-sensory processes—like grief, reverence, interdependence, reverence, and hope—can transport, transcend, and transform without the need for substances. Music speaks the language of emotion, interoception, and transformation. It can slip below the radar of our protective, egoic consciousness to do its healing and enlightening magic. This is why it has so long been used for shamanism, psychonautic inquiry, and other non-rational approaches to change—and why so many brilliant composers have experimented with its capacity to help us elevate and embody transcendence. It also underpins the raw power of collective music and dance experiences—optimized in the rave—to bond, open hearts, and remove social and interpersonal barriers to connections. The key to reliably creating authentic transformational experiences with music—that can entrance and entrain diverse audience members without losing potency—is to architect the journey around the core blueprint of transformation. Next, it is vital to add frames, prompts, voice dialoguing, hypnotic suggestion, archetypal metaphors, mythic narratives, movement (whether dance or repetitive patterns”) to “lure” each listener into their own inherent capacity for wisdom and healing. Then the journey can be used to help listeners, whether on their own or in a shared collective experience, release outdated and diminishing patterns held in by trauma, alienation, and fragmentation—and receive new intuitions, insights, and ideas that bring about more wholeness, health, and regeneration inn their lives and the systems they touch.
Artist Bio: Nick will share insights and learnings from 20+ years at the forefront of audio-driven transformation—from developing a brand sync and sonic branding consultancy right through to developing transformational tracks for the BBC’s mental health campaign—and from DJ-ing over 100 live transformational journeys from Burning Man to Shanghai.
Thank you for looking through my work.
