Saffron x MSCTY

Over the past 6 months, we’ve been working with five emerging Bristol-based music producers on a programme of artistic development. The project has centred around a commission from MSCTY, the leading global music-architecture agency that invites musicians and recording artists to compose tracks in response to locations in cities around the world.

The original tracks or ‘sonic responses’ are now available to listen to by walking around Bristol and geo-unlocking the track streams through the MSCTY website. Listeners are invited to immerse themselves in the locations in which the tracks have been created for. The tracks will also be released as a compilation on usual streaming and download platforms via our record label, Saffron Records, on May 3rd.

How they responded to the site chosen – and the processes that they use to do so – was left entirely up to each individual, so we are gifted with five totally unique tracks reflecting Portland Square, Christmas Steps, Phoenix Wharf, Millennium Square and Bristol Museum. Sounds comprise skittering snares and distorted melodic electronics from Medis, deep sub-bass and distant watery siren calls from Ratiba Ayadi, yearning soulful genre-blending from Tallulah Blue, spoken word and experimental electronics from Marla Kether and pounding high-end techno from The Yard Woman.

We asked each of the artists to share a little of the meaning and process behind their tracks. Here’s what they had to say…

MEDIS – FORTUNE RIDDIM [LOCATION: PORTLAND SQUARE]

“Reclaiming the area’s history of merchants making their fortunes off slavery. This is now MY place of fortune and a place to dance/express myself freely. The track is made from a collection of field recordings taken from the area and captured the sound of people talking outside Cosies. These were put to one side whilst I collected samples from news reports on the 1980s St Pauls riots. Using a jazz loop I began building my drum pattern using a mixture of samples and sounds created from my field recordings.”

MARLA KETHER – 000 FT. GEORGIA MORGAN TURNER [LOCATION: MILLENNIUM SQUARE]

“As someone who works as a session musician and DJ whilst also pursuing a Chemistry degree, I wanted a location that would allow me to marry science and music together. The track was constructed from a cypher using the words, ‘Metallic’, ‘Futurism’ and ‘Millennium’, the piece is introduced by field recordings taken in the Square, before the arrival of synths, invoking allusions to science-fiction, and the gradual building of a distorted, metallic soundscape. The weight of the bass coming in mirrors the overwhelming sense of the magnitude of the sphere as you approach it. Georgia Morgan Turner delivers a poem mythologising the provenance of the large silver sphere (the Planetarium).”

RATIBA AYADI– FOR THOSE WHO SEE US FT. SILENT SONGSTRESS [LOCATION: PHOENIX WHARF]

“This soundscape draws on the textural qualities in architecture and water’s allure to excavate histories of the Harbour. Bristol is a city of dampened histories and souls. To speculate on the water – like fire – is to call on primitive processes of contemplation.

“The track process began by excavating sound from old video footage taken in the Bristol Harbour area of Phoenix Wharf. Having lived there during the pandemic, I came to listen to the silence of the area. The silence in the architecture enabled me to read histories and hear remnants of being, unclear and distant but hollowing and dark. The track began lyrically as an investigation into bridging the gap for alternate worlds. I sampled sounds that fall into the dark history of my heritage. My ancestor’s histories were lost and diluted as they moved through generations. Leaving me in the dark. I have learned how to look in the dark sonically for connections with ancestral knowledge – using sound design and composing invisible sonic structures and sampling and transposing sonic moments with those said to be in my heritage.”

THE YARD WOMAN – STEP FT. TYLA X AN [LOCATION: CHRISTMAS STEPS]

“The Christmas Steps have an eerie, haunting atmosphere with old asymmetric buildings stacked side by side giving an unbalanced vibe to the space. Some people claim to feel that someone is following them, hearing the sound of distant footsteps.  The sounds used in the track are designed to make the listener feel like they’re going up and down The Christmas Steps in Bristol city centre. Trippy, spatial percussion and fast switch-ups in the pace, distorted vocals and Bristolian sounds of people chatting outside pubs. Lyrically, we’ve taken the idea of the steps as in ‘a journey’ and that growth is not linear and so is this track.”

TALLULAH BLUE – THE BRISTOL SHADOW [LOCATION: BRISTOL MUSEUM]

“I visited the Bristol Museum as a young child, and returning again as an adult I saw the building and its space in a different light, through different eyes. More recently there was a BLM exhibition in the main hallway, which inspired the creation of my track. I challenged myself to encapsulate a world in music; each section introduces a new instrument set and tempo change to create the sense of entering into a new era. The piece leads the listener through a journey in history, with each section representing a specific time with the cultural changes and controversies that come along with it. It seeks to interrogate, asking for answers and demanding truth in its most vulnerable form. The project has four prominent sections which are titled: ‘The Shadow’, ‘The Statue’, ‘The Flag’ and ‘Bristolians’ – each section presents a different genre theme, symbolising the museum and the people of Bristol in a call and response motion.”

ABOUT OUR ARTIST DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

The artist development programme, which has been made possible thanks to PRS Foundation funding, links to our core mission of addressing the gender imbalance in music tech, with particular support for Black folks and those of mixed Black heritage. The project has aimed to provide each participant with the tools, opportunities and support to develop their careers.

Aside from the paid commission for MSCTY, the programme has involved access to 1-2-1 mentoring, Saffron membership and a 5-day retreat at Hawkwood College in the Gloucestershire countryside. The retreat gave space for them to share, create and reflect together with workshops facilitated by the likes of Hannah Catherine Jones and Pops Roberts on topics of modular synthesis, finding your voice, advanced Ableton production, digital distribution, connecting to physical sound and more.

A snapshot of each artist’s personal story, musical approach and aesthetic has been captured in a 12-minute mini-documentary, giving a compelling insight into the very unique journeys they are all embarking on. The video is available to watch now on YouTube. The artists will be performing live sets at a showcase event at Strange Brew, Bristol on the 3rd of May. Tickets can be reserved free via Headfirst.

The project has been funded wholly by the PRS Foundation, as part of their Talent Development Partner Network.