Howlround are absolutely delighted to have been invited to contribute to the latest project devised by Musicity Global and Culture Mile in association with The Barbican. Inspired by the wide variety of remarkable architecture on offer here in the ancient heart of the nation’s Capital and officially launched at the recent Sound Unbound 2019 festival, MxCM has commissioned a number of musicians and sound artists to each produce an exclusive audio work inspired by a different location in and around the Barbican complex.
The resulting tracks are then geo-tagged precisely to their respective locations in question and can be listened to only by physically visiting that area and logging into MusicityGlobal.com using a smartphone. It’s both a treasure trove of hidden surprises from some of London’s most intriguing sonic talent and also a neat way of engaging with your surroundings – Howlround’s own track ‘Heavy Works’ was inspired by the Beech Street Tunnel right next to the world famous art complex and you can read more on the work’s gestation over at the Musicity Global blog. Essential reading for anyone wondering just what we were up to that early Sunday morning when we turned up on site with THIS:
‘In an age when so much music is available in an instant, we want to bring back the joy of seeking it out. We want our audience to venture out, to be active not passive consumers of contemporary music, to explore cities and to experience the urban environment in new and unexpected ways, though music that is entirely connected with it’. Musicity Global
For those of you who are feeling lazy, a limited edition cassette compilation of all ten tracks can be purchased exclusively from The Barbican Shop. Although let’s face it, that would hardly be in the spirit of the endeavour – and since you’re already on site you might as well explore the site and get some exercise!
Robin The Fog 