signals from cygnus...

I am a Manchester based artist & musician, my work incorporates a variety of media including film, sound & installation. For a number of years my main area of practice was painting, I now employ the same methods I used for painting to create sound works & films, using layers of sounds in a similar way to the application of paint to my canvas. I focus mostly on manipulating electric guitar through effects pedals & different playing techniques to create soundscapes & drones influenced by the works of minimalist composers such as La Monte Young & Steve Reich as well as musicians such as Dylan Carlson & Wolfgang Voigt. My film's are built through a similar method to my sound works, I use loops & layers to find new textures & slow dream-like shots to create hypnotic films which I then use as projections for live performance.

I also make a music under various names, most notably cygnus (or cygnusss) with which I have performed at several exhibitions & festivals around Manchester. As well as working as a solo musician, I play guitar & write in the band Mata Hari.

James Moffat

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Possible catalogue photos, I really can’t decide what to go for. I’m attempting to visualise the sound wave from my Dream Frequencies project, as a rehash of that is most likely to be my degree show, but it’s proving difficult.

BLURB

My main area of practice is sound. I mostly work with electric instruments, specifically the guitar, exploring the tonal possibilities and new sounds I can create by manipulating the instrument through effects pedals or software or even dismantling and rebuilding it. In performances I incorporate extended techniques and prepared guitar to build soundscapes influenced as much by the philosophies and theories of minimalist composers as by experimental guitarists and luthiers. My recent works have begun to move further into installation and environments created through the use of sound generated from various sources; pre-recorded samples, manipulated instruments, programming and open source software, exploring the effect the sounds have on my audience over an extended time period.

Dream Frequencies

The Mill24 piece, previously referred to as “Brain Waves” finally has a proper name, “Dream Frequencies”, as a tribute to La Monte Young’s Theatre of Eternal Music or Dream Syndicate.

The piece is obviously heavily influenced by La Monte Young’s works & will have many similarities to the Theatre of Eternal Music’s live performances.

Here’s the guitar parts mid-build of WHITE NOISE I & the final outcome in EASA HQ after being installed.

I didn’t end up using the neck, as you can see in the images of the final piece, it wasn’t really necessary.

The final sound piece was built around a supercollider programmed sound piece of white noise, layered over one of my usual ambient type works.

Fender Jaguar HH joy.

White Noise Machine →

I found this piece a while ago & forgot to take note of who made it & what it was called, having just stumbled on it again I thought I better put it up here so I can come back to it whenever I need.

Lovely sound work/installation. The piece plays blasts of white noise back into the streets at the same volume of the sounds around it, the piece also becomes interactive as people purposefully create sounds to hear it.

Great video/piece making a fully orchestrated track using an empty school for percussion & the occasional acoustic instrument.

White Noise I

First movement of the piece for Test now complete & recorded. Sounding rather lovely even if I do say so myself.

“Ladies & Gentlemen we are playing with one guitar.”

Test

Our 2nd exhibition at Moonfish, TEST, is opening on Thursday.

My piece is another experiment with extended lengths of sound works, only 2 hours though this time so not vastly extended, the idea is that no one will hear the same piece of music twice while at the exhibition opening event.

The piece is also in memory of a family friend who died last year, without whom I probably would have never learned to play guitar & therefore wouldn’t do any of the work I currently do.

Brain Waves

20 minutes down, only 23 hours 40 minutes to go.

It’s getting much easier & quicker to do as I get used to building it though.

29Hz

One of the frequencies I generated for my brain waves project just made me shudder.

I need to research further into the effects of low frequencies on people & how people react to them, this project is giving me far more ideas & posing far more questions than I ever thought it would.

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