INTERZONE NIchola scrutton

CD + DL | Out on Thu 15 june

Interzone is the upcoming release from composer and performer Nichola Scrutton, out on CD and digital platforms on Thursday 15 June.

Interzone (Nonclassical, 2023) contemplates an experience moving between dream and waking, inner world and outer landscape, and an idea of constant change and perpetual motion.

Two defined elements emerge from Interzone: a careful use of electronics, and Scrutton’s experimental vocal practice. The album was recorded in two steps, first by the artist herself in her studio in Glasgow, using field recordings and archival materials, resulting in the series of four Interzones which connect the album. She later worked with engineer Jim McEwan to record the second series of tracks - the two Quartets, and the Trio and Solo movements - focused on using extended vocal techniques. Interzone emerged out of Scrutton’s solo live performance practice: the literal ‘liveness’ of live performance influenced the studio sessions.

Sounds are sculpted by Scrutton’s voice, which she thinks of as both sound material and expression. Technology provides her with an opportunity to shape these expanses of sound into material objects, combining the recordings of her landscapes with her voice, connecting the person to the land.

An embodied approach to listening is encouraged: the sounds used encompass Scrutton’s dedication to sound and mark-making, the latter through her considerable practice as a visual artist. Both sound-making and mark-making through drawing and painting make the imagined world of the Interzone real, further realised and shared to the audience through the act of listening.

Interzone grants the listener permission to exist within ambiguity, and experience and interpret the album for themselves.

LISTEN + BUY

About the artist

Nichola Scrutton is an award-winning composer/sound artist, vocalist and artist. Her compositions have been broadcast internationally, including recent long-form work Dream Stream for Radio Art Zone, European Capital of Culture Esch 2022. Nichola has extensive experience as a collaborator in interdisciplinary and participatory contexts. In 2023, in addition to the Interzone release on Nonclassical, Nichola is producing multifaceted project Night Vision, including a release, performance and film; and collaborating on new work with Zoë Strachan as recipients of a Second Life Award from the Edwin Morgan Trust. Nichola was awarded a PhD in electroacoustic composition in 2009, University of Glasgow.

Portrait Photo by Julie Broadfoot