Nonclassical is partnering with NottFAR to present weekly videos showcasing new experimental music and creative sound practices from the Midlands. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be catching with the featured artists from the series to learn about their practice, influences and lockdown habits.
Stephen Crowe is an experimental composer and multi-instrumentalist. Often taking inspiration from literary texts, his work has been performed internationally; notably at Cafe Oto, The Courtauld Institute, The National Portrait Gallery and Tate Britain.
What are you listening to this week? What's your track of the day?
I'm listening to Doris Norton's album 'Artificial Intelligence' at the moment. I don't know how I've survived without her relentless, chaotic brilliance. You know how it can be annoying that nobody had ever recommended something to you? That.
Has the pandemic affected your process/work? Have you started/been involved with any new projects?
I was supposed to be taking my Lady Chatterley's Lover opera on tour this year, but instead I've been learning to play the clarinet and the saxophone in order to keep my brain alive. So as not to irritate my neighbours I would drive to Lidl and practice the clarinet in the car. The saxophone is a bit too loud for that, so I went to a weird fenced-off field instead and played a mixture of classic TV theme tunes and some of Charlie Parker's easiest lines.
What's getting you through this second lockdown? Any lockdown hobbies or pastimes you'll keep up? And what will you get rid of?
In the first lockdown I went for quite a few walks and enjoyed looking for jays and rats in the woods. This time around it's much colder and going for walks is far less appealing, so I don't know what the animals are up to these days..
What's inspiring you recently? Any recommendations for lockdown 2.0?
Today I'm reading A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf, which is characteristically fantastic. I'm coming to the end of a mammoth re-watching of Lovejoy on DVD which is always an inspirational journey. Another good bit of telly has been Halt and Catch Fire which is a magnificent series about some computer people that was made a few years ago, but somehow disappeared without trace...
Watch Stephen’s performance as part of our Nonclassical x NottNOISE partnership here.
We caught up with the featured artists from NottNOISE to learn about their practice, influences and lockdown habits.