Gareth Quinn Redmond - Céim•eanna (2019)

Conceptually derived from the work of Japanese minimalist composer Satoshi Ashikawa, I have composed an album which hopes to engage, enrich and reflect the listener’s surroundings – an Environmental Music. In the liner notes of his 1982 album Still Way, Satoshi Ashikawa explains how with his concept of Environmental Music he sought to write a music, which acted as an

“object or sound scenery to be listened to casually… it should drift like smoke and become part of the environment surrounding the listener's activity. In other words, it is music which creates an intimate relationship with people in everyday life.”

The above would go on to act as the conceptual framework for my first album, Laistigh den Ghleo. However, over the past year I have attempted to approach the concept from a modern perspective.

Instant access to music via music streaming devices has changed our relationship with the art form, with most now engaging with music in a more passive manner. This offers an opportunity for Ashikawa’s concept of a static music to develop into an Environmental Music which, throughout their day, blends and reflects the modern listener’s ever-changing environment. This is what I have sought to achieve with Céim•eanna.

As a result, the music that I have written contains moments of dramatic composition, leaning away from Ashikawa’s concept of a music “which does not excite the listener.” However, after much contemplation, I truly believe that this is necessary in my pursuit of developing Environmental Music further within a modern framework.

My hope is that Céim•eanna helps the listener engage with their surrounding environment and allows them to recognise the multitude of individual pulses that comprise the world around them. Fundamental to the concept of Environmental Music is that instead of offering one a form of escapism, this music is designed to create an intimate bond between the listener and their everyday life.
- Gareth Quinn Redmond