In the heart of the University of Huddersfield's Creative Arts Building sits the unassuming Phipps Hall, which has given itself over to five days of total electronic sound immersion. The University has grown accustomed to attracting pioneering artists in contemporary music over the last four decades, both to its in-house research centre CeReNeM, and to the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival every November. The relatively younger Electric Spring Festival takes place every February and is now able to stand alongside its older sibling, offering the public an impressive and diverse programme of composers and artists specialising in electronic sound manipulation. This year was no exception. Running from 22 to 26 February, there was something to suit everyone, from improvised live-coded dance music to classic musique concrète masterpieces. From its conception in 1995, the aim of the festival has been to offer breadth and surprise to its audience.
The concerts are curated by Professor of Composition and Improvisation Pierre Alexandre Tremblay, with the help of the music department's faculty, whose own works contribute to the programme. When speaking about this year's programme, Tremblay said, ‘I'm not expecting anyone to like all the gigs, not even myself. I curate things that I think complement each other well to offer one vision of this music in the twenty-first century’. With the addition of the Huddersfield Immersive Sound System (HISS), a flexible and efficient speaker setup equipping students at the University with countless possibilities for experimentation, the experience of this festival is nothing short of exceptional in all manners of advancements in sound technology.
The opening night began in breath-taking beauty with the world premiere of Capillaries Capillaries, by the University's own Tadej Droljc. A packed Phipps Hall is darkened and dwarfed by a six-metre-wide High Definition screen. HISS surrounds an arrangement of chairs, creating anticipation for what is to come; careful judgment of where to sit is required for the optimum listening experience. The introduction of the symbiotic interaction between sound and image in Droljc's audio-visual landscape begins delicately and with intrigue. As the relationship plays out, one is mesmerised by the stunning detail and inseparability of parts. Granular and complex layering of textures are offered visibly and audibly, both inextricably linked and reliant on the other. To follow is an improvisation from live-coder Alex McLean. The vast screen remains active, waiting to project McLean's live-coding under titles such as ‘stut pan’, ‘tabby’ and ‘sine nudge chop’, giving those in the know some clues as to what we are about to hear. His mastery of his instrument is deft and virtuosic, with carefully treated manipulation of each sample providing inventive and stimulating builds. He focuses on different families of electronic sounds, creating momentary portraits, moving from what sounded like a kick drum quintet into a ‘choir’ of synthesized organs panning around the 24-speaker surround sound system. The club-like style of the music could arguably benefit from an alternative venue to the concert hall, but the experience here was thrilling. A relatable level of immersion allowed one to suspend one's disbelief and there was an appreciation in witnessing McLean's algorithmic processes, which needed focused attention to be perceived in full.
Immersion was a theme that continued throughout the rest of the week. The third night had room for reflection as Beatriz Ferreyra offered two works from her extensive catalogue: Río de los pájaros azules (The blue birds’ river) (1998) and Echos (1978). The opportunity to hear her finely crafted music over 16 channels and in a darkened room was a pleasure noticeably shared by the audience. Phipps Hall became a meditative space in which Ferreyra's music could be studied. Echos originates from the days of tape cutting and pasting but undoubtedly stands alongside its modern digital equivalent. There is audible perfection in where her sounds stop and start, inspirational in its proficiency to hear up close. Ferreyra also offered a UK premiere of Senderos de luz y sombras (Paths of shadows and light) (2017). Her use of 16 channels and stereo created startling depth and offered multiple openings into a spiritual listening experience.
Her supporting act provided a considered introduction from a modern perspective. Frédéric Dufeu, also based at the University, presented ‘Happy new year and where are you?’, an expansive, lingering passage with an intense and physically felt thematic climax pushing both the speakers and audience to maximum capacity.
There were concerts serving as contrasts to the themes of electronic music, including a collaboration with a symposium for sound and music in documentary film. Here was a rare opportunity to experience some remarkable work, most notably Mirrorlands (2014) by filmmaker Emma Dove and sound artist Mark Lyken. It offered the audience an exploration of the Black Isle in the Scottish Highlands, with multi-directional aspects of the place and its inhabitants evoking feelings of unease but also assurance. Dove's eye for the life within life was haunting yet humbling, and was fully realised through Lyken's use of distance and distortion of the familiar. The effectiveness of the music would struggle without its visual counterpart, which one could argue as being applicable to Droljc's and McLean's use of a visual element as a distraction from and even a compensation for a lack of content in the music. However, the inclusion of other mediums moves Electric Spring beyond a simple music festival and into a celebration of art existing outside any given boundary. Again, to refer to Tremblay and his vision, ‘Artists are taxonomy-solvent. These taxonomies are put over them … Interesting artists always go places and we try to programme interesting artists so it forces us to go places’.
The final two nights of the week brought us back to experiencing live interaction through performing musicians. London-based drummer Dave Smith displayed incredible technique and flair in a collision of acoustic and electronic worlds. Through improvisation, he effectively melded harmonic and acoustic qualities from his kit with the main electronic body of looped backdrops combined with highly amplified distortion and reverberation, although the set lacked a little direction in terms of progression over its 40-minute duration. Closing the week was Richard Scott and his thoughtful use of the analogue synthesiser, one last avenue to explore within the wide spectrum of electronic music.
The integrity of the festival was felt in the hubbub amongst the audience. There was an intimacy to the enclosed space in Phipps Hall, the late-night fringe events providing necessary post-concert interaction, and the circle of visiting artists taking positive interest in each other's work outside of their individual spot. The generous amount of rehearsal time dedicated to each artist allowed for individual setups to be perfected and even permitted some last-minute experimentation. The flexible properties of HISS supported adaptable performances that kept the music organic and in touch with the human behind the technology, rather than as would be the case with a fixed interface. Opportunities to delve deeper into the layers of understanding were made possible via tech-specific symposiums run by Alex Harker and Ben Wilson. This year's festival is Tremblay's last; he has succeeded in offering a diverse and ear-opening exhibition of fine electronic music composition.
