Em Burrows and Jeremy Segal
Residency date: October 2024
Project Title: New Forest Collage Radio
Website: https://emburrows.net and https://jeremysegal.net
About the artists:
Jeremy Segal is a sound artist, musician and audio engineer. His work ranges from multi-channel sound installations and generative media to indie rock and electronic music. He is currently undertaking a Master of Sound Studies and Sonic Arts at Berlin University of the Arts.
Em Burrows makes contemporary new wave/electronic music under the name Web Rumors. Her recent album Travelling Circuits draws on traditional British folk song material. She has been a radio broadcaster and arts organiser for over ten years.
Plans for their Residency
During their residency Jeremy and Em will work on New Forest Collage Radio, a sonic map of the Forest that visitors will be invited to explore with handheld FM radios. They will collaborate with community members to record sounds in and around the New Forest, from stories, song, and poems to plants, animals, and natural phenomena.
Interview with Em Burrows and Jeremy Segal - New Forest Artists in Residence
Can you give us a brief overview of how your practice has developed and what led you to the work you produce today?
We both have backgrounds in music, predominantly as songwriters, producers, and performers. Em has always had a deep connection with traditional English folk music, and much of her works has involved interpreting and recontextualising this music through other stylistic lenses. Jeremy cut his teeth playing in bands but over the last few years has focused on electroacoustic music and sound art. We both work with community radio, and at the moment we’re interested in experimenting with the parameters of radio in an artistic context. During the residency we’ll be exploring possible intersections between radio, folklore, collage, and field recording.
Initially, what aspects of the New Forest do you envision influencing your work the most?
We’re excited to work with the plurality of the New Forest, the fact that it is culturally and historically, as well as ecologically, diverse. We’re looking forward to exploring the relationship between the geography of the forest and the myriad stories and practices associated with it.
How do you hope to engage the local community with your work?
We’re hoping to collaborate with the local community to record sounds in and around the New Forest, from stories, songs, and poems to animals, plants, and environmental phenomena. As well as developing a multi-media installation from these recordings, we plan to broadcast these sounds via online radio during the residency and to leave behind a library of local sounds for the community to access. If you would like to record with us, or if you have a favourite sound that you’d like us to record, feel free to email newforestcollageradio@gmail.com.
Who or what would you say are your biggest influences?
Em’s biggest influence is probably traditional folk music and its modern iterations, especially the second British folk revival of the 60s and 70s. Her favourites include Pentangle, Fairport Convention, and Steeleye Span. At the moment Jeremy’s biggest influences are drone music (Eliane Radigue), fiction about fiction (Philip Roth, Paul Auster), and art about rock music (Dan Graham).