Tag: composer

Music and sound composer for film, games and other visual media – Simon Marchant.

Sound and music production including recording, editing, mixing, restoration and mastering for musicians and other clients.

I create immersive and emotive music under the name Slow Worm Sound Works using a combination of electronic and traditional instruments alongside field recordings and the use of experimental audio manipulation techniques.

I am a core member of the post-punk band Normil Hawaiians with records originally released by Illuminated Records in the early 80s and lately re-issued (also on vinyl) by the London label, Upset The Rhythm. We have been fortunate enough to have been given positive reviews for all our releases from a range of publications including Wire, Mojo and The Quietus. Other Ways of Knowing, a track from our first album, was used in the Lemaire Fashion Show of Fall-Winter 2019/20 and another track, Martin, from our second album, featured in the February playlist last year from fashion house The Row. This February, the song ‘Yellow Rain’ from our debut 1983 album ‘More Wealth Than Money’ again formed part of The Row’s highly respected playlist. We are currently in the process of putting together quite a significant and eclectic collection of new material. As well as coming up with many of the creative ideas, I am responsible for recording, editing, mixing and mastering the work and I am hoping all will be completed and ready for release by the end of the year. I have also recently mastered Bertie Marshall’s (formerly known as Berlin and founder member of the Bromley Contingent) retrospective album, Exhibit, also on Upset The Rhythm records.

From a personal perspective, I have an interest in exploring alternative approaches to sound/music creation. I believe that composition is simply a process of discovery and that the most interesting music comes either from searching deeper and further or from foraging with an unorthodox technique. I like to use found sounds as compositional sources in a variety of ways, especially when these are linked to specific spaces. For example, waves lapping the shoreline of Tayinloan on the West coast of Scotland morph into a darkly submarine and slow moving harmonic eddy in the track NR728524 (to be included on the new NH album). In this piece the only sound source is the recording of the waves. These are gradually and progressively filtered using Sophia Poirier’s wondrous Rez Synth to sculpt form from a block of natural sound.

The Most Extraordinary Adventure.

“Renaissance woman Jude Adams sings with panache and the zest of a soul sister who has lived a little and experienced a lot.” Rosie Millard OBE after the launch of album no 2 The Window to My Soul.

Jude is a singer-songwriter across various genres and would still describe what she does as a “professional hobby”. Having still never sung in a choir, never having played an instrument nor reading music and lacking the confidence to share a voice she knew she had Jude finally started singing aged 50 but only two years later in 2011 myalgic encephalomyelitis was diagnosed. Performing as with most areas of life came to an abrupt halt. Jude had qualified as an Interior Designer and was building up a significant freelance business amongst other things when health issues intervened.

Not one to be put off by the limitations presented to her Jude unexpectedly found herself writing poetry and then lyrics and coming up with musical doodles which she would hum or sing into her phone. Along with continuing where possible to work with a series of vocal coaches, Jude managed to learn about songwriting through online courses and 121 tuition and in 2016 brought out her first album This Girl, This Woman produced and arranged by renowned jazz composer and pianist, Janette Mason. The launch hosted by Rosie Millard OBE was supported by a successful Crowdfunding campaign and Arts Council England. This attracted quite a lot of media attention and inspired Jude to move forwards.

In 2017 Jude started performing a little again and continued writing new material.

The Window to My Soul followed in 2019 accompanied by a memoir of the same name and in October 2022 Jude’s third album Freedom was released.

Albums 2 and 3 also saw Jude developing her portfolio of visual art showing in person and with TWTMS, when the pandemic hit, online with The Alternative Spring Tour, before Zoom even became the norm!

At every stage of Jude’s musical adventure, through a natural curiosity and something of a fierce determination, she has set her bar higher – always seeking to learn more and develop her skills to become an accomplished and respected musician and singer. From starting to sing, starting to write – the music and words on 28/30 songs on her first 3 albums are her own – to becoming hands on in the production of her work.

For the last 5 years Jude has worked closely with Georgia Train (Burt Bacharach, Kaiser Chiefs, Bitter Ruin, Xenomania, Hookers Songs) as her vocal coach, mentor and one of her co-producers. A fourth project taking Jude in a very, very different  musical direction is underway and will be ready for sharing sometime in Jude’s 65th year! One of Jude’s firm beliefs is that age should not get in the way of aspirations. “New talent should not always mean young talent.”