siren

‘here I am, here I am, waiting to hold you’ – Tim Buckley



Siren was my first collaboration with Chris Watson. The original concept was to take the refrain from Tim Buckley’s metaphysical love song ‘Song to the Siren’ (starsailor, 1971) and have this performed by a man and a woman in separate places, across a gulf or void. They were invited to sing deep into the refrain until it became a litany. Later I became interested in field recordings of the natural environment, with their decentred experience of sound, and so I invited Chris to collaborate.  

siren was performed by Clive Powell and Maria Jardardottir. The recordings took place at dawn on two piers in the harbour of a North East English coastal village. It has been performed since in various settings.


Chris and Alec have collaborated on other projects, including Global Oracle and The Princess’ Forest.



















Photography: Michele Allen, 2005

Video footage by Ben Ponton (amino) edited by Laura Harrington (22 August, 2005)


Audio extract 
© Alec Finlay, Chris Watson 2006

sound design © Chris Watson 2006


You can hear an extract from siren here

You can buy a copy of siren here


Links
chriswatson.net

touchmusic.org.uk
maria-jardardottir.com