Signal Chain — Season 2 — Episode 7
Signal Chain — Season 2 — Episode 7
Welcome to Season 2 of Signal Chain. This pop-up newsletter is a creative collaboration between generative musician Duncan Geere and photographer Oliver Holms.
We’re taking turns to send new work to each other. Each new piece is inspired by the piece before. We’re building a chain of influence together and you’re along for the ride. New instalments are released on the 1st and 15th of every month, and you can unsubscribe at any time using the link in the footer.
::SC-S2-E07::
Hi Duncan,
A lot has changed since the last episode of Signal Chain. A week ago, on Wednesday morning, my wife gave birth to our beautiful baby daughter. Witnessing her arrival into the world was the most powerful experience of my life. It was raw and primal, sacred and sublime.
Seeing the strength and courage of my wife as she embraced the emotional and physical challenges of labour, showed me the power of flowing between acceptance and resistance. And when I held my daughter moments after birth, unformed and helpless, wholly perfect; I felt the kind of hope that is only possible with new life. A fresh start.
My response to your music, as always, is personal rather than cosmic. Grounded in the small things. (Though my daughter’s middle name, Nova, still points at the stars.) When I hear the flux and flowering in your track, I see the changes already blossoming in my life and in my priorities. How should I refocus my time and energy to best serve my family and me? How can I make the process multiplicative and joyous, rather than subtractive and grim?
Your track connects me to Nature’s vast timescales, through which mountains move and oceans mingle. Imperceptibly slow moment by moment, but buzzing with generative energy when looked at from afar. I feel a kinship with human timescales and human concerns too. In particular, experiences that bind us together through the ages — like staring at a newborn, dazed and awestruck that where there was one, now there are two. The original creative act.
I promised you that I would skip this one or release it late. But in the spirit of ‘done is better than perfect’ and maintaining another important chain, I wanted to get something short and unedited out of the door. But now it’s time for bed. It’s nearly midnight, I’m writing this with one hand, and the newborn held in the crook of my other arm has started to grizzle, looking for her mother.
Oliver.