I’m well aware it’s been rather a long time since I last posted here. The main news is that, due to illness, things is postponed, folks! I’m now NOT launching Colston’s Last Journey in May this year (2022) as originally planned. I had been thinking, ‘ok – maybe autumn 2022 instead’, but then Bristol Ideas (one of the supporters of Colston’s Last Journey) said, ‘why don’t you include CLJ as part of the Bristol 2023 (650 years of ‘Bristol’, I understand) celebrations next year?’ So I discussed it with my partners (Steve Poole at UWE and Phill Phelps, my Satsymph colleague) and we all think it could be a good ideal to tap into that. So I’m now looking at spring 2023. Thanks Arts Council for being understanding!

We recorded my scripts on 18 March nonetheless with 3 voice actors and I have just finished the first rough audio edit. The concept has also excitingly developed further as per the above infographic: the problem – well, not ‘a problem’, ok, the issue was ‘what will the sound experience on the 7 ghost slave ships be???’ The thing being that there is A LOT of content and in the Satsymph experience of making soundscapes we have generally found that anything more than, say, 4 minutes per soundclip was too much. But here we are talking 20-30 minutes of sound! WTF!

Solution came to me in a blinding flash of purple light (from whatever realm that cometh from, namaste!): the content, be it 10, 20, 30 minutes, whatever, is on perpetual loop. The onlistener, when they ‘board’ that ship (ie find it afloat somewhere along along Broad Quay on the sea of sound) simply tap into wherever that loop is at that moment. ULRIKA, er, EUREKA! Solves all the technical wotsits, guarantees ‘the individual experience’ (since everyone will tap into that particular loop at a different time), simple, elegant. Gebonkt.