Separation • Debut Single • Music from the Eden Project
2023 | Artist
Alice at the Eden Project - photo by Mark Lomas
Alice Boyd released her debut single and music video ‘Separation’. Written during her artist residency at the Eden Project, ‘Separation’ brings the voices of plants to life, exploring our evolutionary journey and connection to the biosphere through a rich arrangement of vocals, electronics and analogue textures.
The seed for ‘Separation’ was planted at Alice’s 2021 artist residency at the Eden Project in Cornwall - home to the world’s largest indoor rainforest. Alice spent a week in the Rainforest Biome with her hand-crafted Arduino device recording plant conductivity data, which fluctuates as water moves around the leaves. Alice ‘sonified’ this into music, using synthesisers to voice variations in the data. This plant music is the foundation of the EP, appearing as the opening electronic bed in ‘Separation’ and intricate melodies heard on later tracks.
“We were delighted to host Alice Boyd for a residency and the premier performance of her music. Alice’s music brings together a unique combination of sweet vocal harmonies, throbbing electronic textures and sounds from the Rainforest Biome never before heard by humans. The music beautifully reframes the urgent climate crisis into an opportunity for reconnection with nature.”
“Plants are essential for our survival - from the oxygen we breathe, to the food we eat, medicines we take and materials we use. I wanted to make music that deepens our understanding of the entanglement of life on Earth; that humans are a part of nature, not apart from it. What better way than by making music with and inspired by the plants at the Eden Project?”
Singers at the Eden Project - photo by Daisy Russell
Alice is joined by five other gifted female/non-binary singers on this single: Dazey, Emily Izen Row, Issa, XATIVA and zha. Together, their voices create swelling harmonies, inspired by groups such as Dirty Projectors and Deep Throat Choir. Alice worked with co-producer and mixing engineer Liam Evans (JC Palmer, Lectures) to create the energetic instrumental arrangements.
Alice Boyd’s debut performance of From The Understory in 2022 was the first-ever interactive live-streamed show at the Eden Project. The event was part of Eden Universe, supported by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, aql and Meta Camera.
“To present Alice’s performance as part of Eden Universe, Eden and aql created a flexible digital platform across the entire Eden site as one of nine 5G test sites with DCMS. Using 360˚ cameras, we created an immersive experience which enabled Alice and her ensemble to connect to audiences across the world. We’re looking forward to working with her on future creative projects.”
Alice’s EP From The Understory will be released digitally and on eco-mix vinyl records on 21st April, just in time for Earth Day, and can be pre-ordered via Bandcamp from 24th February. Alice’s music was made possible with support from Sound and Music’s New Voices programme, PRS’s Women Make Music grant and Arts Council England’s Develop Your Creative Practice grant.
The hand-drawn animated music video is by Studio Gruff, a London-based independent animation studio. It takes us on an epic journey through geological time, playfully depicting the evolution of surreal animal-plant hybrids from the murky depths of sea to the expansion of life on land.
A still from Alice’s music video for ‘Separation’ - Artwork by Studio Gruff