halifax nova scotia december 1917
since the last ep, i’ve been busy with both work and creating a new piece of music which has been released today. in part, the idea was to have an activity to give me some focus and something to occupy my time around the end of the year - particularly the period between christmas and new year.
the seed for the track was planted years ago by a painting i saw in southampton art gallery. i can’t recall what it was called or much else about it now, other than the impact i felt at the time. i took away a real pervasive feeling of violence in the image and how that resonated with the subject - an explosion in the harbour in halifax nova scotia in 1917. you can find out more about the explosion here.
one of the things that really stayed with me was the destruction of the Mi'kmaq First Nation site on the edge of the bay as a result of the explosion. the juxtaposition of their historical harmony with the environment and carnage wrought on their community as a result of the actions of others still resonates with me.
all of this was what i was trying put into the music.
i’ve fairly comprehensively broken my ‘don’t explain the music’ maxim here but hey ho.
i should go and see if the painting is still on display there and see what i make of it now.
anyway, i have a vague plan of what i want to do next, but it’s going to take a while so I am holding off on creating a deadline for a bit until i get a sense of how long i’ll need.