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A history of background

In 2010, I was awarded a Leeds met research grant to develop a new sound artwork. My research around sound art focuses on binary level themes that underpin the majority of creative acts. I took the notion of ‘background’ as both a state – a backdrop, foundation or ambience – but also as a political and personal position as my research examined soundtracks, Muzak, background noise, reversed perspectives, dub, dubstep and eavesdropping.

I communicated with Carol Kaye who agreed to an interview being included on the CD. Unknown to me, Kaye played bass on the majority of the 1960s pop hits including Presley, Sinatra, Beach Boys, The Doors, Phil Spector and Simon & Garfunkel, and my research proposes her as a massively overlooked figure in the history of pop culture. I agreed additional content from the Andy Warhol Foundation, Yoko Ono, Bo Diddley, Brian Eno and Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry.

I worked closely with designers on the packaging. We secured permission from NASA to use the first ever image in which the earth was the background and, in collaboration with Dr John Elliott from Leeds Met, I was able to include some recordings from deep space, including the last known one with ‘patterns’.

A history of background was picked up by the world’s leading sound art journal, and in his review of it, Clive Bell describes the CD as ‘a fascinating exercise in shifting perspectives’. Peter Hook, the former bass player with Joy Division and New Order also became aware of the CD, and our communication has led us to collaborate on the subsequent event PRIVATE that I curated for the top of the Radio City Tower in Liverpool. Bernard Clarke at LyricFM in Ireland plays tracks from the CD, as does the Resource Area of the Strange Attractor Exhibition [Crawford Gallery, Cork].