North Greenwich Reverie

North Greenwich reimagined by Gavin Morrow.

" I set out to create a piece reflecting those moments on a journey where the weary commuter allows their mind to wander and slip into a daydream - a realm between consciousness and sleep. The thunder of the train carriage, the clatter of wheels on tracks, the roar of air rushing through tunnels and station din all smeared into a hazy canvas of echoes, reverb and disjointed voices.

The original field recording was dubbed onto tape and pitched down several times to produce a deep, rumbling backdrop. Over the top of this I used the Landscape HC-TT to hand-manipulate sections of the station announcements. Played through a delay pedal this generated a string of wonderfully quirky abstractions and distortions. Additional layered sounds were played through multiple reverb pedals to create the impression of air being forced along tunnels or the deep exhalation of breath. A small looped section of the station escalators was introduced towards the middle of the piece, hinting at the repetitive nature of commuter travel. The march of time. Running like clockwork."

Part of our project The Next Station, reimagining the sounds of the London Underground and creating the first ever tube sound map. August 2016 - for more information see www.citiesandmemory.com/thenextstation