FPG Sounds: Adrian Lane, ‘Where the Crows Nest’

The second commission as part of ‘FPG Sounds’, an online project to support the development of new sound works by artists from or based in Southend-on-Sea. For this commission, artist Adrian Lane has composed and created a series of musical instrumentations inspired by locations, sounds and textures across Southend-on-Sea, including areas such as Priory Park, Prittle Brook, East Beach and Gunners Park. Using field recordings from each location, as well as the use of strings, flutes and ambient synth music (each performed by Lane), the work attempts to evoke the emotion and essence of each environment, explored with affection by the artist over lockdown with his family.

“I have always liked the sound that the crows make, maybe not what we typically think of as bird song, but for me there is something wild and free about the sound. Gunners park has many crows and I managed to get a recording of them in full voice. Some of the symbolism around crows can be quite negative, but they also symbolise intelligence, adaptability and teamwork. The piece starts with the sounds of the crows accompanied by some freeform bass clarinet and flute, emulating the caws of the crows, before becoming more structured around pizzicato strings”.

Adrian Lane creates instrumental neo-classical, ambient music and abstract textural mixed media paintings. A painter by profession, Adrian often works on music and paintings simultaneously, his painting process is reflected in his musical compositions – layering, cutting, and moving parts around, until the finished result is achieved. Employing a combination of age-old instruments (alto and baritone bowed psalteries, acoustic guitar, violin, banjo, zither, glockenspiel, piano) but constructed in a way that could only be achieved with modern technology, Lane often takes influences from early music, folk, world and contemporary classical, ambient and electronica.

Find out more here: https://www.fpg.org.uk/exhibitions/adrian-lane