ARDWICK, MANCHESTER 2.43AM Watch the short film, featuring the stills and my text read out loud, along with the field recordings. A fox was the first thing I noticed, skilfully moving through the streets, foraging for some unseen reward. I wondered where it lived, where it came from, and how it survived in the city. As soon as it sensed me, it sped away through the railings of a gate, and disappeared into the twilight. I looked to the east. […]
This month I take you out at dawn, but via Memory Lane, to the early days of Not Quite Light, when Manchester looked very different. Listen to my readings, field recordings and a selection of delicious music, featuring tracks by Laurie Spiegel, Shida Shahabi and Daniel Lanois. LISTEN HERE PLAYLIST
This month I take you out at dawn, to listen to the sounds of the city and my encounters. With delicious music that features tracks by Nine Horses, Kenji Kihara and Clariloops. LISTEN HERE PLAYLIST
HOLT TOWN, MANCHESTER 3.10AM Watch the short film, containing my reading of the text, sounds from the dawn and extra photographs. I was woken not by my alarm, but by the sound of wind screaming through gaps in my door. And then, on leaving for Holt Town, I nearly forgot my keys, which would have meant I’d have been locked out on my return after sunrise. This caused me to feel unsettled, a sense further enhanced when, after parking on […]
RETRO BAR, SACKVILLE STREET MANCHESTER, 3.29 AM Watch the film, with narrative and field recordings. Some mornings the sound of birdsong fills the still air. Other times there is a tense silence, and I’m caused to strain to hear the first notes of the blackbird’s delicious melody, signalling the end of darkness. On this particular breezeless morning in May, as I patrolled the area near Retro Bar, still too deep in shadow to be photographed, the main sound was of […]
This month I mix the sounds from a single, unfolding dawn with delicious soothing music. Birdsong and chilled, ambient sounds. Take your time with this show, it’s an opportunty to relax. LISTEN HERE PLAYLIST
ANCOATS, MANCHESTER 5.24AM The decision as to where I will photograph at dawn is often taken the moment I turn the ignition in my car. A flock of choices swirl around my head, as if a strong breeze has caught a pile of carefully folded orders, and I must somehow pluck one out of the air. Once I’ve grasped my instructions, I’m aware and accept that I’ve set off on a particular path of fate, and that what I encounter […]
HIGHER BROUGHTON, SALFORD, SPRING EQUINOX 5.49AM The previous evening had been spent with a close friend, wandering the haunts of his past life as a student living in the area quite some years ago, him scampering childlike up and down the street where he had once shared a house. He marvelled at the changes, minimal to my eyes, but to him an era now lost and forever altered by passing time. The area’s residents are now often Orthodox Jews, and […]
Join Not Quite Light for the monthly rummage through the box of sounds under my bed for an eclectic mix of field recordings and delicious music. There is a hint of spring to this month, and I feature tracks by Alice Boyd, Antony Szmierek, Pefkin and Duke Ellington. LISTEN HERE PLAYLIST
MIDDLEWOOD LOCKS 7.27AM Walking towards Middlewood Locks, down Oldfield Road in Salford at around 6.40am, I was passed by a young man carrying on his back a case containing a tuba, or maybe a euphonium. His head was down, lost in thought as he made his way, I assumed, to some orchestral practice somewhere. I’m not sure why I found this slightly absurd, but I did. I wondered, should he practise at home, what it must be like living next […]