A PROJECT led by Focal Point Gallery called FPG Sounds, brings together the creations of 15 Southend artists in a series of original sound works.

Spoken word, experimental music, field recordings and podcasts sets the stage for a diverse programme that celebrates the intuitive use of sound by Southend’s artist community.

The first commission opened in October 2021, where artist (and Echo reporter) Kelly Buckley who performs as K-A-B, created a gripping five-part audio-visual work that considers the impact of climate change on Southend’s coastline.

Titled Echoes in the Fossils, the exhibition is still available for free viewing online at fpg.org.uk, until Sunday January 16. It includes aural frequencies of melting ice, binaural recordings of local soundscape ecology and ‘techno-fossils’ made from coastal waste, which conduct sound when touched by a human hand. Brought together in a final composition, Buckley’s emotive project provokes a call to action with the knowledge that Southend is included in the first 10 per cent of UK towns to be flooded by rising sea levels.

Following Echoes in the Fossils, several new commissions will launch under FPG Sounds, and be available for free online viewing over the coming months.

This will include new works by MG Boulter, Lucia Dove, Ruth Jones, Josephine Melville, Adrian Lane, The Owl Service, The Repeat Beat Poet, RiktheMost, Damien Robinson and more.

This rich programme of artists was chosen by six guest selectors from across Southend’s alternative music and sonic-art scene including Emma Reed (musician, founder of Culture as a Dare!), Storm Johnson (broadcaster, DJ and journalist), George Morl (artist, curator, producer and gallery programmer), Hayley Hill (producer, project manager, Cool Thing Records) and Jo Overfield and Ray Morgan (Sundown Arts, This Must Be The Place).

FPG Sounds will also see a series of live events. The first of these takes place on February 24 at 7pm at Twenty One, Western Esplanade Southend. Presented in association with Control Voltage, a regular electronic music night in Southend, the line-up will include contemporary electronic music performances from artists K-A-B, Adrian Lane, Bantu, Yggdrasil, Sunset Starfish and Masal.

To conclude this project, each commission will be deposited into The Esssex Sound and Video Archive(ESVA).