photo by Miranda Driscoll
MULTI-INSTRUMENTALIST PETER BRODERICK ANNOUNCES NEW COMPOSITION; ONE HEAR NOWAND LIVE RESIDENCY IN LONDON’S SERVANT JAZZ QUARTERS
Following the release of Peter Broderick & Friends Play Arthur Russell last Christmas, the spirited musician and multi-instrumentalist returns with a surprising release of totally different proportions. ONE HEAR NOW is the name of a new record by Peter Broderick, a modular composition and response to a series of colourful murals called One Here Now: The Ogham Cycle, by the celebrated Irish artist Brian O’Doherty (who also goes by the name of Patrick Ireland) – more on this below.
ONE HEAR HOW is a modular composition in 11 parts, composed for violin, piano, synthesizer, voice, percussion and field recordings. Strikingly different compared to much of Broderick’s other musical output in both approach and outcome, Peter spent a marathon 16 hours alone in the Sirius Arts Centre in Cobh, making a definitive recording of the composition surrounded by O’Doherty’s (restored) murals. Approaching the geometrical and systematic nature of the artwork, Broderick devised a system in which the paintings could become a visual score. Different colours were assigned to different notes, certain visual elements were assigned to particular instruments, and then the work was carried out to turn the murals into a piece of music. In addition to incorporating field recordings from the location into the piece, Broderick utilised the acoustic space of the empty gallery room, with its austere reverberation, allowing the timbre of the room to become an instrument in itself.
The resulting music is luminous, where sparse notes resonate and swell into rich enveloping textures.
ONE HEAR NOW shall be available exclusively on an incoming tour (dates will be announced soon) where Broderick shall perform the music from start to finish each night centred around a four day residency in London, where he now resides (tickets available at this link). The recorded version of the work has been pressed up in a private limited edition of 300 vinyl copies and 250 CDs. There are no current plans to put this recording on digital download platforms, therefore this UK tour will be the only place to hear and obtain the music for the foreseeable future.
Read on for a brief history of Brian O’Doherty’s murals and how ONE HEAR NOW came to be…
In the mid 1990’s, celebrated Irish artist Brian O’Doherty created a series of murals at the Sirius Arts Centre in Cobh, Ireland, which he called One Here Now: The Ogham Cycle. At that time O’Doherty was creating work under the name Patrick Ireland, a moniker he adopted after Bloody Sunday in 1972. O’Doherty vowed to keep this new name until a peace agreement was made.
After a year or so of display at the Sirius, the Patrick Ireland murals were then covered up, but rather than paint over them, the arts centre made the decision to erect fake walls in front of the paintings, in case someone might elect to uncover and display them again one day.
In 2018 the current director of the Sirius Arts Centre, Miranda Driscoll, uncovered the murals and in addition to having all the work restored, she commissioned a group of contemporary artists and musicians to create new work inspired by the original exhibition, resulting in a year-long celebration of the peculiar work of Brian O’Doherty, now over 90 years old.
Having taken part in multiple artist residencies and performances at the Sirius Arts Centre in the previous years, Peter Broderick was among the artists commissioned to react to The Ogham Cycle. Broderick specifically wrote the music keeping in mind that he must be able to perform it all himself, and after giving a performance of the work in the gallery room in October 2018, he then spent a marathon 16 hours alone in the gallery, making a definitive recording of the composition. Broderick is keen to note that there is no artificial reverb used in the finished recording. All the reverb one hears comes from a microphone being placed in the middle of the gallery and then recording the instruments at varying distances.
Having forsaken smart phones and social media, Broderick is constantly questioning what place modern technology has in our lives. This project asks the question of what relevance a project like this has in today’s world. With just a small run of shows and a limited physical edition of the music, how meaningful is it? Let us find out!
Excerpt from the liner notes, Brian O’Doherty’s response upon hearing ONE HEAR NOW: “Bowled over by your amazing music!! And most complimented by your logically/spontaneously inspired process – and its integrity.”
Stay tuned for more details of tour dates incoming soon…
