I had a great few days working with the Maynard Afon project this last week, I posted a bit to describe my process and thoughts before my visit here.

Arriving with ideas of exploring the cottage as a container for the watery material gathered over the last year, I started immediately projecting video onto different areas of the interior.

The temptation of the vessels on the dresser was too much to resist.

While mapped water played on the different vessels in one room, there was a single channel live video mix projected onto the wall in the other.

This used video clips from over the last year in a structured, layered composition designed to constantly change, reflecting both the control and manipulation which we impose and the inherent changing nature of the water itself.

Over time, the water returns.

I spent some time on the river in the few days there too. Recording more sounds, focusing attention on the resonant, underground spaces I found nearby, the places where human presence has been fixed and changed the acoustic nature of the water course.

With a body of recordings I set about filtering the water sounds, using a QPAS filter I was able to single out different frequencies and add resonance to create a shifting soundscape from only recordings of the water. Using the Rene sequencer I attempted to program the tune ‘Dŵr yr Afon’ and was able to draw out frequencies and guide the water into the shape of that melody, mixing in additional resonance, echo and reverb as well as the source material of the water. With a selection of water sounds in the sampler, the master clock, driving the echoes and the sequencer, was in turn taking its lead from the length of loop playing.

Water connects us all and everything.

I cant help feeling that we should observe the proliferation of words from millennia of observations, interactions and experiences of these fundamental parts of our world. Surely they act as indicators of how important they have been and still are, to our human and societal development.

Reflections on the river (Afon 2019)