Tintinnabulation Marcus Vergette

LP + DL | Out on Thu 9 Mar

Tintinnabulation is the upcoming release from musician and sculptor Marcus Vergette, out on vinyl and digital platforms on Thursday 9 March.

At the centre of the work are Vergette’s Time and Tide bells: handmade instruments which create sound with the rising sea levels. One of the bells is ringing at any given time of day as the tide wraps around our coast, retreats and returns again. There are eight bells currently scattered across the UK’s coasts, each existing as a democratic artwork owned by the local community.

Sounds from these bells are collaged with field recordings from the coast and fragments of instrumental improvisation, including Vergette himself on double bass. The result is a collection of dark and dramatic soundscapes, capturing the tumultuous nature of our waters.

The title track ‘Tintinnabulation’ explores the idea of a world with birds, and a world without birds, playing with the interaction between the bells and birdsong. In ‘Ferry’, a small group of instrumentalists respond musically to a projected film of the Torpoint Ferry as it crosses the water, with field recordings from the boat audibly intertwined throughout the track. The bells are perhaps most prominent in ‘Wax and Wane’, buoyantly weaving between vocal fragments and field recordings.

Vergette’s creative practice is rooted in the duality of being both a sculptor and musician. One of Vergette’s core principles is democratising art, and he has worked extensively in creating public sculptures. Alongside his sculpting Vergette is also an active freelancer as a jazz bassist, performing regularly throughout the UK.

Tintinnabulations will be launched with a live performance at Nonclassical’s climate themed event the greenhouse effect in the Barbican Conservatory on Sunday 12 March 2023.

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Upcoming performances

12 March the greenhouse effect | Barbican Conservatory

23 March Dartington Trust | Dartington Great Hall

24 June Morecambe Kite Festival

1 July Copper Sounds, Bristol

26 Aug Redcar Festival

About the artist

Marcus Vergette (born 1961) is a sculptor and musician. His work has been exhibited across the UK and Europe including at Peggy Guggenheim Collection Venice, Whitechapel Gallery, Bristol Museum, Peninsula Arts, and Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge. He has made public sculpture in Hungary, Armenia, Czech Republic, U.S.A., The Green Line (no man’s land) Nicosia Cyprus, and at sites across the U.K. including Leicester Botanical Gardens and City Quay in St Katharine's Dock. His work is in public collections including, Tate Modern, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance and The David Attenborough Building at the of University of Cambridge. Over the last twelve years Vergette has been creating a constellation of site-specific bell installations in coastal locations around the UK, designed to toll on the high tide - the Tide and Time Project – to alert local communities to rising sea levels. He lives and works in Devon where he and his wife have been farming and practising nature conservation and ecological land management for over thirty years.

Track listing

Tintinnabulation
Ferry
Wax and Wane

Credits

All music composed by Marcus Vergette. Mastering by Adaq Khan.

Tintinnabulation

Marcus Vergette – bells
Marcus Vergette – double bass
Mathew Bourne – piano

Ferry
Harry Fulcher – tenor sax
Rox Harding – alto sax
Marcus Vergette – all additional material
Field recordings of Torpoint chain ferry

Wax and Wane

Frank Schaefer – cello
Kate Westbrook – vocals
Nell Hubbard – vocals
Mike Westbrook – piano
Roz Harding – alto sax
Marcus Vergette – all additional material
Field recordings of the Time and Tide Bells in various coastal locations