"Finding My Way Home"

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Finding My Way Home; consisted of one month of a musically driven bicycle trip that travelled from location to location, invading the homes of random wonderful people, asking them to play an instrument, click their fingers, tap something, laugh, cry or make some noise with me. All sounds were recorded, both through audio and also visual, with a vision of uniting them all at the end of the trip. The result; one-hour long music soundtrack! Each person was asked to consider what they considered to be music and also what they didn't. A major part of my mission was to concentrate on the idea of noise. Like an alert dog, my ears were perked. I was always ready to listen, to try and understand, and more importantly; discuss the value and feeling that various noises had, for different people.

 

I think it is important to say that none of these people knew each other. They lived on average, 80km away from each other. Like in the days of George Melies, I wanted to produce a type of magic by taking all of these individual recorded sounds or noises and uniting them together. A type of free-flowing randomised conducting, all tied together into a presentation of one soul packed contemporary, feature film length music score soundtrack!

After approximately 2300km of pedalling, the result; I collected both audio and video recordings from over 40 random people, from over 18 countries. Over 50 different instruments and over 50 extra sounds were captured. Would you have let me into your home and joined the project?

 

Ingredients;  One creative, pale-skinned, long-legged, semi-ignorant, always curious Irishman (Me). Transport; Bicycle (Molina). Many creative people along the journey. Assorted items; audio gear, a basic smartphone (LG G3), one pair of runners (wearing), two pairs of shorts, two t-shirts, toothbrush, jar of camping gas, two spare tubes, a survival foiled hot and cold blanket, helmet, watch, some Allen keys, rain jacket, an extra large blue poncho and some hope. Location starting point; Hlubocepy Prague, Czech Republic. Date; 1st of July. Time; 7 am. Duration; One month. Destination; Co.Monaghan, Tattyreagh North, Ireland...Home.

 

Process Breakdown:

- Meet people who love listening/playing music, amateurs, professionals, alternative styles etc! If you have a passion for music and being creative, I wanted you in the project!

 

- Record (audio and visual) of them playing their instruments (including voice). We will concentrate on certain keys; B Minor and G Major.

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- All sessions were improvised. Everything recorded had to be original, meaning no covers of songs.

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- Together we will try to create/add samples, layers, patterns, melodies together. People could listen to or be influenced by the previous person I had recorded. This direction acted like building blocks or guidance for the future participants if needed along the trip. I described the project to my good friend Joe LaCorte, a fantastic guitarist from New York and I couldn’t resist including his response. I feel it really highlights the tone of the project:

 

''Dig the idea man. I can't comprehend what kind of a piece of music you'll have by the end but it's already got my mind buzzing..a somewhat instrumentally cohesive suite/avant garde multi textural piece of sound art/aural equivalent of a travelogue. Limitless possibilities.''