Second Square To None

  Partial Gathering - UnAble to Negate Reason by SSTN Strings

This Strings Series installment comes from Belfast/London duo Partial Gathering who here combine classical instrumentation with digital processing to create a timbrally rich piece full of ominous intent.

Tell us a little about your musical background ie influences, formative experiences, bands you play/played in
In my teens, I was completely taken with rock music by Fugazi, Nirvana, Sonic Youth, Led Zeppelin and electronica artists like Aphex Twin; I became fixated with the equal weight of melodies and feedback. When I began my BMus I was introduced to the world of contemporary classical and electroacoustic music and quickly married the noise, dissonance and consonance of the two fields in my mind. I had been an orchestral violinist and following my graduation from a BMus at Queen’s University in Belfast I began playing electric violin for a prog-folk rock outfit, Catoan. I went on to start an interdisciplinary arts project with fellow Catoan-ites called The Summer Experiment which ran for two years in Belfast before moving to London to start my Masters in Compostion at the Royal College of Music. I’ve been gradually forging a blend of improvisation, rock noise, lush harmony and colourful timbre which Partial Gathering has been a major outlet for. Meeting Coco had a huge impact on my musical thinking; such a phenomenal cellist with a strong background in avant-garde and baroque music. In so many respects the opportunity to be part of a creative partnership with this dynamic has become one of my most formative experiences as a composer and performer to date.

Zvuku - Halfway Slump by SSTN Strings


Latest String Series contribution brings us luscious droning electro-acoustic ambience from Dublin-based Zvuku.

Tell us a little about your musical background ie influences, formative experiences, bands you play/played in.

I started out (at the end of the nineties) dj'ing electronica, jungle, ambient, classical, noise (and anything else we could get our hands on) on power fm (the dreaded Saturday night midnight to 4am slot) with a long time friend, droid - renowned crackpot and runner of the famed Blogariddims podcasts http://www.weareie.com (I was under the name slug back then). This led us to part running "The Fear" club in the now disappeared Funnel. The Fear (http://www.thefear.ie/) continued as a label, releasing electronica, Hip, Hop and lastly Jungle. The Fear has since sort of morphed into Ruff Revival - a jungle / Dubstep label - which i'm still involved in.
During these years i've always dipped in and out of producing music - trying to teach myself musical composition etc, with a few releases here and there, but it wasn't until mid 2009 that the current project of Zvuku started - mainly due to getting some studio space at the time, letting me finally house all my equipment in one place! Zvuku (za - vu - coo) explores my love of ambient, noise, classical, drones etc.

Amanda Feery - Soilsubsoil by SSTN Strings

Very happy to present a new piece by Irish composer Amanda Feery as part of our Strings Series.

Tell us a little about your musical background ie influences, formative experiences, bands you play/played in.

I started piano when I was 7 and hated lessons. I used to teach myself exam pieces during the summer so I had enough time to play tunes I liked. My Mum always had music blaring around the house so I would learn songs l liked by ear (like, the B52’s..). This way of learning music was rewarding, and I was able to figure out the rudiments of music on my own through listening, rather than chewing my pencil over a workbook. I started clarinet when I was 11, thrown in the deep end completely, playing with a marching band. Like most grungy preteens, I also started playing guitar. Performance was a huge part of my musical life in my teens, but when I started a music degree, I neglected performance, and started composing. My teacher, Donnacha Dennehy, was/is a great inspiration, but I was a very bold undergraduate student, not wholly interested in all of the classes I was taking, and it wasn’t until I started my masters that I began taking composition seriously. Playing by ear, and working things out on the keyboard definitely shaped the way I write music today. That, and the volume level my Mum played music at home (loudness, lovely).

  Phil Dunne - Airport Duck (Original) by SSTN Strings

This week's piece features guitar experimentation from Phil Dunne of Dublin instrumental band Groundburst. Check out their EP, "Everything I didn't say and all the things I wanted to", available on Bandcamp.

Tell us a little about your musical background ie influences, formative experiences, bands you play/played in.

The first music that I got absolutely obsessed about was English breakbeat hardcore and jungle in the early 90's. At the time I had a typically teenaged I dea to form a "rave band" with a schoolmate (Ian McDonnell, or Eomac of Lakker). Started playing the guitar around '95 after hearing acts like The Prodigy, Chemical Brothers etc using guitars in their electronic music and thought I would pick up my dads old acoustic and see if I could come up with anything. Once I got my own electric and discovered rock it became pretty all-consuming!

Ed Devane - Clear by SSTN Strings

This week: Withering Zithering AKA Ed Devane in homemade-zither-and-effects mode.

Tell us a little about your musical background ie influences, formative experiences, bands you play/played in.

I started playing guitar age 14, and from listening to bands like Sonic Youth quickly started experimenting with feedback and non-standard ways of making sounds with amplified strings. I played in a couple of bedroom bands as a teen but lost interest in guitar music on hearing some now "classic" mid-to-late 90's electronica. A couple of years later I went back to the guitar, modifying it by taking out the frets, cutting off bits of the body that got in the way of the knife sharpener (which I used to play the strings, and which has the effect of slide and bow), adding more pickups etc. Eventually as I began playing in John Mary Trilogy around 2003 I started thinking about building my own instrument, which I eventually did a couple of years ago.

Colin Boylan - Just Another Sunbeam by SSTN Strings

Colin J. Morris - Pecking order by SSTN Strings

This week we have surviving shoegazer, moving-pictures composer and maker of very beautiful music, Colin J. Morris on guitar, mountain dulcimer, mandolin and electronics.

Tell us a little about your musical background ie influences, formative experiences, bands you play/played in

I wanted to play guitar since I first heard The Shadows play "Apache" when I was about 7 years old. The only music I had available to me was my Dad's, so it was The Shadows, Elvis and Glenn Miller almost constantly until my teens. I caught the indie bug in school when I heard My Bloody Valentine's "Isn't Anything" around '89. Also around that time, I started listening to The Byrds and Joni Mitchell. So after a few dodgy bands, I ended up in a band called Sunbear in 1993 and had a blast for a few years. Since that band, I played in the Ruby Tailights and currently play with Carol Keogh and Miriam Ingram.
I only really started recording myself in 2005 and formed a film scoring company www.tootsweet.ie with Miriam Ingram in 2007. I think getting in to recording was the best and most creative thing I ever did. I started off with a Yamaha 8-track machine, using guitar pedals as effect inserts. I still like those old clunky demos, but I also love software recording. I think a lot of musicians can be a bit snobby towards computers, software and decent mics, but I love them.

  A Shadow - A Postcard From A Rained Out Wedding by sstn-strings

New series here on SSTN, Strings, where we talk to different artists who use stringed instruments about their approaches to using their instruments as tools for sound generation and composition. It is intended to provide a broad overview of different methodologies; covering areas such as different playing styles, extended techniques and effects processing. Each week we will feature an exclusive piece of music and an interview. First up is Dublin artist, A Shadow.

Tell us a little about your musical background.

I started to learn guitar as a teenager when I was big into guitar bands around at that time like The Bluetones and Blur, but particularly Radiohead. I was always interested in listening to different music and by the time I got an 8 track I was recording songs and instrumentals based mostly around the guitar usually in odd tunings I’d pick up from learning Nick Drake or Kelly Joe Phelps songs incorporating whatever other instruments I could get my hands on.