Photo by Declan Kelly
I've sat on a lot of recorded material for years, not releasing a thing, unconcerned with having anyone hear me. Time I look forward to is time spent with Declan, and often Dave (Raising Holy Sparks) underground. It's easy to forget about 'up there' when you're descending into pitch darkness, surrounded by cold concrete.
World Cup 2010 had wound up and Declan had given me a present of a small red vuvuzela that had belonged to our friend Takashi. I was eager to put my own stamp on it in the Dark Place. I had a short go of projecting a lot into that little toy, and the sound of it, the varying subtleties bouncing back to me from all sides was a wild kind of comfort. It was an exercise and a lament all at once.
I took the vuvuzela to Minneapolis for a gig but the plastic film on the mouthpiece ripped and that was the end of that.
Here's a new radio series that Declan has put together of archived recordings from visits to the underground. Have a listen!
Declan Kelly presents Abandon Reason Episode 1
Abandon Reason is an archive of recordings made in the highly reverberant (and unlit) space of a disused underground car park in Galway, Ireland. The recordings are mostly musical improvisations utilising a wide variety of instruments and voices, and very often objects (as well as the walls and fixturec) found in the car park itself.
Abandon Reason will be an 8-part series of half-hour episodes broadcast fortnightly on Curious Broadcast. It is presented by Declan Kelly and, alongside the radio programme, there is a blog (http://reasonabandon.blogspot.ie/) on which can be found more information about the contributors to the show as well as photographs and videos of the space. Contributors to date include:
Jorge Boehringer (Core of the Coalman)
David Colohan (Raising Holy Sparks, Agitated Radio Pilot, United Bible Studies)
Aaron Coyne (Yawning Chasm)
Darugaries
Declan Kelly (DeclanQKelly, Yawning Chasm)
Annemarie Deacy (Mirakil Whip, Fuaimbhac)
Gerard Duffy (School Tour, Patrick Kelleher and His Cold Dead Hands)
Kate Glavey (Burrows)
Sarah Grimes (September Girls, Black Robots)
Tony Higgins (Junior85)
Vicky Langan (Wölflinge, curator of Black Sun in Cork)
Alice McDowell
Peter Moran
Brigid Power Ryce
Gavin Prior (Deserted Village, United Bible Studies)
Episode 1 features Aaron Coyne, Declan Kelly, Brigid Power Ryce, Vicky Langan, David Colohan, Gavin Prior and Alice McDowell.