Music and Place: ‘Surface Tension’ by Rob St John

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By Paul Scraton:

In 2014 the musician, writer and artist Rob St John set off on a year of walking, recording and photographing the Lea Valley in East London. The project was commissioned by the Thames21 Love the Lea charity in order to document the pollution, life and biodiversity of the Lea Valley’s environment. Out of these explorations Rob took with him to his home studio a mix of field recordings, tape loops of guitar, cello and piano melodies – some even deliberately eroded in river water baths – to create an album of electric-pastoral sounds, haunting and melodic, and deeply rooted in place.

The album was called Surface Tension and it was released in 2015 to much acclaim and quickly sold out its original book and CD limited editions. We have long been fans of Rob’s work in general and Surface Tension in particular, and so we were really excited to hear that 2021 would see the re-release of Surface Tension by Blackford Hill in a limited-edition vinyl package including Rob’s 35mm and 120 film photographs and new sleeve notes by writer Richard King and conservationist Benjamin Fenton. 

Added to this is an essay by Rob on how art, ecology and sound were brought together to create Surface Tension. There are only 300 copies available and each record is pressed on eco-mix vinyl using plastic cut-offs from other pressings. This means that each copy is both visually unique and more environmentally friendly than classic record pressings.

You can find out more about Rob’s work and this special edition of Surface Tension, as well as listen to some of the tracks from the album, on the Blackford Hill website. This special edition was released on Friday 14 May and is sure to sell out quickly, so order your copy soon!

Soundmarks: Art and Archaeology

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We were extremely interested to hear about ‘Soundmarks’, the new collaboration between the artist and archaeologist Dr Rose Ferraby and the artist Rob St John, which brought together art, sound and archaeology to explore and document the hidden sub-surface landscape of the village of Aldborough in North Yorkshire, England. 

Aldborough was an important town in the Roman north, one with a central forum, basilica and amphitheatre. But for anyone visiting the town today, this history is not immediately obvious. And so the Soundmarks project was born; an attempt to bring this landscape back to life again, through art exhibitions, sound installations, a book and audio art trail, as well as a documentary film and podcast.

“There is rich ground for creative exploration between art and archaeology, allowing new ways of exploring landscapes. So much of archaeology is about imagination: engaging with creative practice can open up new ways of thinking through archaeology and communicating it in interesting and exciting ways.” – Rose Ferraby.

On the Soundmarks website you can delve into more of this fascinating story through the different strands of the project, including the documentary film and audio trail (with accompanying town map). And if you happen to be in the neighbourhood of Aldborough, the English Heritage Museum in the village is providing a home to the visual and audio elements of the project.

To learn more about the project, have a listen to the Soundmarks Podcast, in which Rose and Rob sit down to talks about the process of research, making and exhibiting, interwoven with field recordings and music made for the project:

Soundmarks is an art/archaeology collaboration between Rose Ferraby and Rob St. John using sound and visual art to explore and animate the sub-surface landscape of Aldborough Roman Town in North Yorkshire, UK. This podcast, recorded in September 2019, features a conversation between Rose and Rob outlining their processes of research and making over six months in Soundmarks, resulting in an exhibition, sound installation, book, art trail and film. Their conversation covers themes around art, archaeology, sound and landscape, and is woven with field recordings and music created in the project. Find out more on the project website: https://soundmarks.co.uk/ Soundmarks was supported by funding from Arts Council England.