Warp & Weft

In the early summer of this year, I was delighted to be commissioned by the Wool & Water Arts Festival to write a piece of music inspired by the mills and weaving industry that both historically and, to a lesser extent, remain within the beautiful, rural landscape of Stroud and the surrounding areas.

The result is Warp & Weft – part soundscape, part classical music, Warp & Weft draws its musical influence from elements as diverse as Philip Glass and The Art of Noise.

Using recordings of weaving looms and other weaving mill sounds it explores the repetitive, rhythmic qualities of weaving machinery and their syncopated musical structures. Over three distinct sections, it recreates and portrays sonically, a day in the life of a mill worker as they move between very different sound worlds.

Incorporating two amazing musicians, Lydia Kenny on Soprano Saxophone and Angie Spencer on violin the piece stirs from it’s sleeping calm, explodes with the poly-rhythmic energy and dynamism of life in the mills and then finds its peace as it draws to the close of the day.