Icy weather was an opportunity not to be missed for Dan Fox, a sound artist based in Ulverston.The otherworldy sound of cracking ice and the noise made by snowballs, sticks and wood reverberating underneath the frozen surface were among the sounds captured.
“A couple of weeks ago when it was really icy and everything was frozen up, I went up to a local tarn which had about a couple of inches of ice on the top of it and lowered a hydrophone into a hole,” Dan told Business Crack as he showed me his production studio located close to the start of the Cumbria Way in a former glass factory.
“I slid an underwater microphone into it and then basically recorded sounds of bits of wood and ice and snowballs and thing. When I brought them back into the studio they sounded fantastic. They will no doubt be some source material for future compositions.”
Surrounded by acoustic panelling is a computer for recording and monitors and various instruments including a drum kit, piano, percussion and a trombone.
The artist started off working in his bedroom when he was 14 making use of a cassette four track mixer and is ‘basically self taught.’
But Dan’s work is not limited to producing soundscapes. Sound Intervention, the name of the company he’s a director of, has a growing reputation for producing light and sound installations. From Aberdeen to Brighton, over the last two years he’s worked with over 200 clients.
Performance and art runs in his family. His sister Hannah is currently working on a project to gather folk tales for Keswick Museum.
Their father John was one of the founder members of Welfare State International, a touring theatre company which was set up in 1968 (the year Dan was born) and became well known for staging spectacular large scale events.
Taking art outside of theatres and galleries was revolutionary and sparked a whole movement which continues today.
In December, Dan worked with the National Trust at Sizergh Castle to create a nature-themed sound and light experience.
His aeolian flutes – large bamboo flutes which make music as wind passes by – were a particular draw among the 22,000 people who visited.
His next project is in Morecambe where the town will host the third Baylight illuminations event this weekend.
Last year, 28, 000 visitors were attracted to the two day show including Dan and his family.
“I think it’s fantastic; I’ve taken my kids to both of them just to go and have a family night out,” Dan said. ”It’s a really good location for a light festival because there’s a nice dark background. It’s really clear what the route is and you don’t really need a map to find your way.
” And it just felt really social – like an old perambulation of families going out! And I just really liked seeing all the pieces of work there and thinking about the pieces that I’ve I’ve made and I think, oh, this could go there or this could go there and obviously there are different ways of rigging and installing things because it’s on the prom, it’s hard standing.”
Three of Dan’s creations will be on the promenade close to Morecambe Town Hall during the weekend.
Glittering Grove, half mirror balls on a boom pole with pin spots that uplight them and create thousands of moving points of light will be there along with the aeolian flutes. The startling Luminosity trees, a six metre high cross between a jellyfish and a toadstool, will project thousands of points of light.
“There’s a soundscape with those which is based on the Fibonacci sequence of numbers,” Dan said. “It’s reflecting the growth in plants with music which never repeats. The patterns of colour and movement move up and around the trees in response to the audio.”
Moving light and sounds is the theme of a bike which will also feature in a community parade at Baylight. Inspired by Dan’s Boom Bikes – a sound system built onto a bicycle – which were commissioned for Blackpool’s pre-illuminations Ride the Lights event, a Juke Bike which was commissioned for Light Up Lancaster and is based on a Wurlitzer jukebox will be seen in Morecambe too.
The illuminated pieces have helped Dan expand his other work which was decimated by Covid when events were cancelled.
“When COVID happened I lost a year’s worth of work overnight because there was just no live events or gigs going at all,” Dan said. “One of the things that did continue were illuminated trails because there could be delivered outdoors, socially distanced and quite safe.
“All my light pieces all have sound with them as well, because that’s the sort of an equal thing for me, but I put in a couple of proposals to a couple of companies that organise trails and it’s kind of snowballed a little bit from then there’s there’s been a big growth in both illuminated trails where you go and install something for a month and then people go around and also short light festivals.”
He added: “A network called Light Up The North features festivals in Lancaster, Blackpool, Leeds and Wigan so if you can produce work that’s of a certain scale and is tourable that’s what we do now. We’ve just put a lot of energy into making this stuff very robust and weatherproof and, and can cope with the British winter!”
The impression his displays leave on people motivates him to keep developing an art form that is still growing as technology moves on. The growth in low energy lighting means a whole display, including sound, can be powered from a domestic socket.
“As an artist it’s really important to see how the public respond to the work because that’s ultimately how you learn from it and how you think about developing it or changing it,” Dan said. “I love being there with the work and seeing how people respond to it.”
