Cities and Memory - remixing the world

"My first ever Cities and Memory track was a response to a very similar recording; that one, too, featured chimes. For that first track I re-sequenced the ringing and built my response on that 'quantised' structure.  "Some five years on I have changed very little to this original recording, leaving most of the irregularity in the ringing in place and working with and around its rhythm, embracing the imperfections and allowing some push and pull between the recording and my response. "In building my response I have worked much like I often do; searching for anything the recording insinuates, singing back to it and composing as I go along." Untuned Bell installation in Oslo reimagined by de Velden.

The Untuned Bell sound installation in Radhusplassen in Oslo. This 1.4-ton bell (anno 1949) was removed from the bell tower of Oslo City Hall because it was no longer in tune with the other 48 bells.  The artist found the bell lying silent on the ground and restored its voice. From its new home on Radhusplassen, here outside the City Hall, the bell can once again interact with the bells in the tower. By putting your foot on a Cry Baby wah pedal nearby, you can activate the untuned bell.  Recorded in September 2025 by Cities and Memory. 

In McCaig's Tower, overlooking the bustling harbour town of Oban, finches call out from all sides as we walk around the inside of the tower walls, while the hum of the harbour rises up the hill from below us. Recorded in Oban, Scotland by Cities and Memory in April 2025. 

"The piece takes its cue from McCaig’s Tower in Oban, Scotland—not as an architectural curiosity, but as an acoustic world. It begins and ends with the finches that inhabit the open structure, their calls forming the work’s natural frame.  "The music moves through evolving motifs: a peaceful drone and the suggestion of bagpipes represent the quiet of the unfinished enclosure overlooking the town and bay of Oban and a little of the builder’s proud, almost overreaching ambition; a more measured, tread-like pulse created from footsteps in the field recording, suggests generations of visitors drifting through the space; and a light, agile texture depicts the birds’ restless motion.  "Finally the pipes return as grandeur brushes against melancholy. The finches, ever-present, attend to their own concerns." Finches in McCaig's Tower reimagined by Martin Gregory.

"In approaching the project I was struck by the evocative and ethereal quality of the original recording, in particular the call to prayer, and have tried to retain that in the three sections of this piece. There is also a timeless quality to the original, which I wanted to retain and develop. "The piece is intended to present those sounds in different yet related contexts; the first section is melodic, while the second darkens and the third tends more towards the filmic or abstract (it hasn't ended up as abstract as originally planned!). Each section is distinct in nature, yet at the same time bound together by the use and reuse of the original sample material, running through the entire piece and providing continuity. "In the first section, I have taken a cut of the call to prayer in the original recording, which has then been pitch-shifted to fit in the key of the piece, which was based on the interplay of the opening electric piano arpeggio and the call to prayer sample. I have also taken elements of the background talk and added these as a sonic bed for the other musical elements to fit around, as well as treating and harmonising the samples to create depth. "In the second section the same call to prayer is used, but this time detuned and reversed, along with some sounds and elements from the first section. The third section also contains a sample of the motorbike which cuts through the middle of the original recording, and which has been sampled and used as a percussive sound to provide the rhythmic element. I have also added some of my own field recordings here, as well as library recordings of people reading poetry in various languages, to create a bed of voices, which swim in and out of focus and underpin the original sample. At the end of the third section, the original, unadorned sample closes the piece." Technical info: Recorded / sequenced in Reaper VST instruments: Universal Audio (various), Native Instrument Massive X synth, Spitfire Audio Labs (various), Decent Sampler (various) VST effects: UAD, Native Instruments Additional field recordings made on Zoom HN1, built in microphones Public-domain poetry samples sourced from https://archive.org/details/librivoxaudio   Bang Phat soundscape reimagined by Mark Gordon.