Composition | Craig Gell

Holywell Coombe (Sweeping Filter)

This piece consists of a field-recording made in Holywell Coombe, an area of countryside on the outskirts of Folkestone town which is part of the Folkestone to Etchinghill Escarpment SSSI.

A steadily oscillating band-pass filter explores the variety and interplay of sounds concurrent in the landscape (from aircraft to insects) as it passes through the frequencies within which each sound operates.
A similar use of this technique can be heard in the previous work Green Language.

Holywell Coombe (Sweeping Filter) was broadcast on Radiophrenia, Glasgow CCA, September 2023.

Great Orme Copper Mine (Auto Filter)

This piece uses a short field recording made at the Bronze Age copper mines at Great Orme, Llandudno, North Wales. As the original recording repeats, it is side-chained to a series of automated filters of varying sensitivity, transforming the sound of dripping from the limestone tunnels into an array of synthetic voices. On the third repetition the source audio is muted, leaving just the synthetic signals.

Broadcast on Radiophrenia, Glasgow CCA, September 2023.

Imogen Holst’s Kitchen / Imogen Holst’s Kitchen In Retrograde

A room tone recording made in 2019 while on artist residency at Church Walk, Aldeburgh, former home of Imogen Holst – daughter of Gustav Holst, composer, conductor, arranger, musicologist, and assistant to Benjamin Britten. The modest kitchen, where Imogen could famously ‘only cook eggs’, is set within a 1960s modernist bungalow designed by H.T. Cadbury-Brown.

White Horse (2020-01-31T23:00 / 2020-02-01T11:00)

White Horse (2020-01-31T23:00 / 2020-02-01T11:00) documents the moment that the UK left the EU at 11pm on 31st January 2020, and the morning after at 11am on 1st February. The field recordings, each lasting approximately 11 minutes, were made from the vantage point of the Folkestone White Horse hill figure, overlooking the terminal of the Channel Tunnel that connects the UK to mainland Europe.

Green Language

Created in collaboration with eco-poet Chris Poundwhite, Green Language offers a unique perspective on the ever-present Folkestone Downs. Through a blend of transportive soundscapes and poetry, we explore its rich ecosystem and consider our relationship to this integral part of the local landscape.

Continue reading Green Language

Folkestone’s El Dorado: An auditory ramble through The Warren

El Dorado is a triptych of soundscapes that combine original music and field recordings capturing the unique sounds and biodiversity of Folkestone Warren: a designated local nature reserve (LNR) and site of special scientific interest (SSSI).

“The Warren has been termed the El Dorado and the “terra felix” of the entomologists. And not without reason.”
– Rambles Around Folkestone by “Felix”, 1913

The field recordings were made along three routes, and over three consecutive mornings in the first week of July 2018, between 4am and 7am, during the dawn chorus when the avian inhabitants of The Warren are at their most vocal.