Bleep

Press Release

“Vernon illustrates that from ubiquity, he is able to conjure something unfamiliar and compelling.” - Spenser Tomson, The Wire

“Film noir for the ears.” - Chris Whitehead, The Field Reporter

“A compelling listening experience, one which views the past through a cracked lens. What emerges is surreal, threatening, heart-warming and touching; an unsettling take on nostalgic feelings, emotions which clearly are not to be trusted.” - Ed Pinsent, The Sound Projector

Persistence of Sound presents a new album from one of British sound art’s most original voices. Mark Vernon is a Glasgow based artist who explores concepts of audio archaeology, magnetic memory and nostalgia through his work. At the core of his practice is a fascination with the intimacy of the radio voice, environmental sound, obsolete media and the reappropriation of found recordings. A rich collection of domestic tape recordings; audio letters, dictated notes, answer-phone messages and lost voices often find their way into his unorthodox soundworlds. These elements are distilled into radiophonic compositions for broadcast, multi-channel diffusion, fixed media and live performances.

A keen advocate of radio as an art form, he co-runs and curates Glasgow’s art radio station, Radiophrenia. Mark was a founding member of Glasgow’s Radio Tuesday collective and went on to set up several other art radio projects in the UK.

Mark is an award-winning radio producer who has created programmes for stations including Resonance FM, VPRO, Sound Art Radio, Radio Revolten, Deutschland Radio Kultur, Radio Cona, Radio Picnic, Kunstradio, Wavefarm, RADIA, EBU and BBC. Since 2011 Mark has co-run Lights Out Listening Group, a bi-monthly listening event focused on creative uses of sound and radio that takes place in complete darkness.

Notes by Mark Vernon: A composed soundscape created from sounds recorded on location at the Scottish Sculpture Workshop, Lumsden and the surrounding areas. Originally produced for SSW’s radio station Lumsden Live in 2021. This is a condensed, reworked version created specifically for this release. As well as the rural environment, recordings of various machines, equipment and processes from the workshop feature heavily.

'Performed' by Eden Jolly sound sources include the copper guillotine, furnaces, extractor fans, electrical saws, drills, the furnace, welding torches, anvils, hydraulic jacks, sanding machines, grinders and electric hoists. The piece is an adaptation of a longform radio piece produced for SSW’s radio station Lumsden Live in 2021.