MINACK

This piece was originally written for a solo performance at the Minack Theatre in Cornwall. Standing on that amphitheatre stage carved out of the cliffside, you are completely exposed to the wind and the sky and surrounded by sea. It's both a feeling of vulnerability, and feeling charged and alive. 

I wanted to create an invitation, as an offering to the natural elements.  It’s about presence, and also connection: rooting yourself in the present moment before surrendering yourself to the gods of the sea and sky.

 

DIVERGENCE

This was originally written for the BBC 6 Music Festival for a performance with Mary Anne Hobbs. She wanted me to write a piece that would be the climax of our performance as a moment of rupture and release. A moment that would defy the expectations of the instrument and redefine the space.

The piece starts contemplative and reflective - luring you in - before it expands and propels forward into a moment of fleeting intensity. It’s like the briefest of thunderstorms which passes overhead. Then once it passes, the stillness returns but somehow, something has changed - the light, the feeling, or even something inside of ourselves. It’s like a moment of letting your guard down to reveal your inner self.

 

WORLD, I AM TIRED

A Bach chorale, stripped down, reimagined. I was playing through the chords of “Welt ade, ich bin dein müde,” on piano, and then started layering violins before dismantling and rearranging.
The structure and progression of Bach is there, but it’s fractured and pulled apart.  The deep synth hum moves like distant tankers across the sea - deep, brooding, and menacing. The sound world is inspired by Dungeness, and its bleakness, its stubborn quiet. There’s melancholy, but the flutter of the improvised arpeggiated violin line hovering above also reveals a glimmer of hope.

 

REQUIEM

The piece is about suspended time. The repetitive string loop appears like the cycle you are unable to break, the wound that won’t heal: round and round in your head. 

Then the strings come in, and it’s that moment of epiphany when you surface for breath from the water,  or the clouds break and you get the ray of sun that pierces through. That breath, that space - finding that clarity - that’s what I wanted to find in the music.

 

VERTIGO

Vertigo was born from conversations with Professor Mark McCaughrean at the European Space Agency.
We talked about “cosmic vertigo”, which is that dizzying feeling when something triggers a momentary vertigo. The realisation of how vast the universe is, and how small we are, as well as our connection to the universe around us. I tried to capture that sensation in sound: unsettling underwater textures, intimate string motifs building in intensity, and then the big string melody that rises out of it all - a realisation of perspective, awe and wonder.

 

BETWEEN WORLDS

This piece explores the fragile threshold between life and death.

I originally wrote this for a collaboration with the University of Kent and Cancer Research UK, drawing inspiration from microscopic imagery of Cancer and Alzheimer’s research. 

As I visited the scientists in their laboratories and saw these images that fly through the nucleus on a molecular level, I was struck by a sense of perspective, imagining these galaxies which exist within us.  Between Worlds captures that subliminal moment between life and death.  The violin guides and moves us through that moment, giving us permission to let go.  We begin as, and then return to, stardust.  It’s a gentle and reflective moment.

 

SUBMERGED

This was originally written for a site-specific performance at Deal Arts Festival 2025, performed in the underbelly of the 500-year-old Deal Castle.

I wanted to write something which could be in dialogue with the crumbling damp chalk walls, the saltwater seeping through the bricks, the ghosts of the soldiers who occupied the castle.

 I wanted to connect to the history and sense of place. This piece layers synths, warped string textures, and field recordings, and the vocals are like sirens echoing those who have come before.

 

RECONCILE

Originally based on another Bach chorale, this one is caught in a sense of tension - friction and release.. I wanted it to feel spiky, uncomfortable, claustrophobic - the cello and bass like the depths of underwater,  the strings and guitar clawing at your thoughts. It keeps pushing forward with no remorse. And then, eventually, at the very end there is a resolution, and the light comes through, breaking the pattern.

 

UNRAVEL

One thread that pulls towards the truth. It marks the start of transformation, where something hidden begins to surface. These little violin riffs which feel like a tugging of the sleeve - a nagging thought which you play over and over in your mind as you edge closer to the truth. The tug of intuition that won’t let go.

 

 

DAWN

A moment of peace and hope.

I climbed onto my rooftop one morning to watch the sunrise over the horizon line of the sea. 

It feels like a beautiful secret - there’s an intimacy and calm watching nature declare the start of the day.  The birds started singing their morning song so I recorded them on my iPhone, and then went back to the studio and improvised chords and string lines. Cherif added beautiful and warm synth layers. The piece unfolds into a slow, expansive bloom, exactly like watching the sun peek over the horizon line and then come into full view.  A meditation on stillness, hope, and quiet renewal.

 

UNTAMED

This piece is a call to action. It’s urgent, visceral, and unrestrained. Untamed marks the moment of uprising - the ferocious strings and Francesco’s drums collide in a declaration of will. The reflection is over; this is an unstoppable force with feral strings bringing a wild feeling of strength, unity and resilience.

 

 

RETURN TO SOURCE

Return to Source is an outpouring of love and grief after the loss of a dear friend. More importantly, it is a moment to show reverence and deep love. The violin and cello dance together, soaring and flowing side by side, until the violin lifts off and becomes at one with the sky, the clouds, the rain. It’s a meditation on love, strength, and the enduring magic that connects two souls, in life and in memory. Recorded at Air Studios by a 10-piece string ensemble led by Jack Liebeck, the piece features solo cello by Nicholas Holland (Balanescu Quartet).