FPG Sounds: M G Boulter, ’Clifftown Sounds’

Focal Point Gallery is pleased to announce the third 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, musician and songwriter M G Boulter has created a special episode of his podcast series ‘The Clifftown Podcast’, which was initiated during lockdown to explore the micro-histories, culture, and people of Southend-on-Sea. Conducting interviews and field recordings, Boulter describes becoming hyper-sensitive to the sounds around him in the absence of ambient traffic, aeroplanes and children playing outside. Embracing this new auditory landscape, ‘The Clifftown Podcast’ emerged to discover both hidden histories and sounds alike.  

For his contribution to Focal Point Gallery’s experimental sound programme, Boulter presents ‘Clifftown Sounds’, a new sound piece which merges field recordings of Southend life with musical interludes performed by the artist and collaborators. In doing so, the work creates a shared sound space of natural and humans sounds, described by Boulter as “a veritable rainforest of suburban wavelengths”.

Credits: 

M G Boulter - Guitars and Lap Steel

Helen Bell - Violin

Harriet Bradshaw - Cello

Additional technical assistance and production - Andy Bell

M G Boulter is a musician and songwriter who aside from releasing his own work has collaborated with a number of UK and US acts in the folk, roots and Americana genre. His storytelling style of song writing explores the suburban experience, as well as coastal communities. In April 2021 he released ‘Clifftown’, a themed album about growing up in the seaside town of Southend-on-Sea. This was accompanied by a companion project ’The Clifftown Podcast', which saw M G create a podcast series exploring the micro histories, culture and people of the Southend area.

Clifftown Sounds | Focal Point Gallery (fpg.org.uk)