FLORENCE RUTHERFOORD-JONES
MMus Creative Practice
FLOCO
My project explores fluidity as a creative practice, taking inspiration from the boundary crossing nature of water. I merge instrumental improvisation with songwriting and production techniques, to explore my personal connection with this liquid element as well as its sociological importance. Throughout the project, I researched water’s relationship with fluid gender expressions, Astrid Neimanis’ Hydrofeminist theory and how these values can be conveyed through musical processes, structures and hierarchies.The project is distilled into three separate tracks; Wind Form Waves, Delilah’s Dreams and Pokes, each of which focus on different elements of my practice.
Wind Form Waves
Experimental composition, engineering, and production practices were explored in Wind Form Waves, an instruction based composition in a style similar to Pauline Oliveros’ Sonic Meditations. I recorded this with The London Ambient Orchestra using a Zoom VR field recorder to capture a 360° field of sound. Decoded to a 5.1 surround system, the listener is placed within the circle of musicians. The production counterpoints the meditative experience of performing the composition with the realities of practicing ambient music in London, beginning with the relentless sound of traffic on New Cross Road which melt away as the performer’s breathing intensifies.
Delilah’s Dreams
Delilah’s Dreams explores ‘comprovisation’ processes to simulate the dreaming landscape. The map of a sleeping brain inspired my intuitive use of through composition given its similarities to images of an improvising brain. Abstracted vocals, ethereal synths, violin, kalimba and field recordings of the ocean accompany a spoken dream diary, which explores the speaker’s experiences of gender dysphoria, childhood recollections and conversations with their lecturer. Delilah resents their lecturer’s view point on dreams, as something that can be ‘pinned-down, split apart and probed’. Perhaps they should be approached as formed, not of a solid material easily held in the palm and examined, but as a liquid element, washing over and around the body like the waters of a lazy river.
Pokes
Pokes uses a similar production palette to Delilah’s Dreams but recontextualised within dream pop songwriting. The lyrics imagine a transitory life as a piece of seaweed, using this as a metaphor for the unknown depths of human experience and the contradictory beauty and horror of our natural environment. Autotuned vocals express seaweed’s gelatinous texture and the software’s relationship to mathematics originally used to predict ocean waves characteristics. This contemporary production technique is combined with structural and harmonic inspiration from 70s psychedelic folk artists such as Linda Perhacs, creating a watery take on ‘Cyberfolk’.
My need to express myself creatively in a wide variety of genres has led me to form an interdisciplinary practice that draws from a number of disciplines. As my project came to a close, I realised that none of these disciplines (whether that be songwriting, production, or composition) ever exist in isolation of each other, each practice informing the next. I was reminded of the water recirculation system described beautifully by Ana Roxanne in her track Venus:
Changeable, accepting
Merging water, moves fluidly from one form to another
Easily transitioning from clouds to raindrop to sea
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