Postcards - Crash Ensemble + Laura Sheeran (Screenings)

Throughout New Music Dublin, 2nd - 6th April 2025

Venue: Room 107, National Concert Hall, Dublin

Tickets: FREE

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Films by Laura Sheeran

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Escape Velocity, Paul Scully

Junk, Emmelle Wadding

Waves, Jenn Kirby

X-change of Flames, Maeve Kelly

Lighthouse, Dani Larkin

Through Worlds of Fog, Michael Sullivan

The Last Broadcast, Neil O’Connor

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Crash Ensemble:
Susan Doyle, flute
Leonie Bluett, clarinet
Larissa O’Grady, violin
Lisa Dowdall, viola
Kate Ellis, cello
Roddy O’Keefe, trombone
Alex Petcu, percussion

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Recorded by Jonathan Nangle at Kilkenny Arts Festival 2024
Edited, mixed and mastered by Brian Bolger

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Crash Ensemble continue to push boundaries with Postcards, a project that brings together bold new compositions and film. With a reputation for exploring fresh sounds and daring ideas, this event is a striking exploration of humanity’s relationship with the environment, weaving together themes of sustainability and climate action.

Postcards consists of a series of three-minute compositions by an eclectic group of creators: Dani Larkin, Emmelle Wadding, Jenn Kirby, Maeve Kelly, Michael Sullivan, Neil O’Connor and Paul Scully. Each piece explores critical environmental and existential issues, reflecting the urgency of addressing climate change and our impact on the planet.

As part of this project, Crash Ensemble commissioned Filmmaker in Residence Laura Sheeran to create accompanying visuals that beautifully interweave live visual stories with each piece.

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Made possible thanks to support from The Arts Council and Dublin City Council.

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Escape Velocity by Paul Scully:

"Escape Velocity is an audio/visual work that explores ideas from the philosophy of ecology. In particular the inescapable irony that we as humans are causing climate change, the thing that will ultimately lead to our extinction. There is no escape velocity from this irony. The piece was conceived to be performed in total darkness,with lights illuminating the string players and snare drum, in sync with the sound. Much of the piece is silent, which means that much of the live experience is in total darkness."

Junk by Emmelle Wadding:

"Junk follows the journey of a discarded object flowing through our waterways as it is intermittently thwarted with aggressive deviations, growing ever more problematic as the damaging effects unfold. The duality of inspiration between AVAVAV’s 2023 fall/winter fashion show and Curtis Hylon’s ‘Litter Bird’ mural lends to elements of chaos, being trapped, and altering our actions to compensate. The piece is written asa message to witnesses to remember the consequences their actions can have. We are all aware of the devastating effects of waste and pollution, but too often in our daily lives and the comfort of our own conveniences we can become blindsight to the impact our actions are having on the world and its natural inhabitants."

Waves by Jenn Kirby:

"I am fascinated with movement and I was thinking about how the movement of bowing is like the movement of waves. The collision and separation of waves like the ensemble as one instrument, then diffusing into separate voices. A video score guides the performers as they follow lines symbolising different temperaments of waves, from dissolving sea foam to the dense and relentless crashing against the cliffs. I'm interested in how we embody that movement."

X-change of Flames by Maeve Kelly:

"The discourse around the environment and climate change is complex, charged and polyphonic, and I’m particularly interested in the responses of people to the global warming argument. There are so many different voices in the public sphere to evoke different reactions – the voices of politicians, scientists, activists and conspiracy theorists in our everyday lives summon feelings of urgency, outrage, fear, hope and existential dread. X-change of Flames explores this phenomenon in the online sphere, specifically on the platform X (formerly known as twitter)."

Lighthouse by Dani Larkin:

"A stark conversation between two strangers at a bus stop inspired the idea of sending a postcard to past, present and future ideas of the self. 'Lighthouse’ moves beyond the linear notion of time. It asks us to reflect on our relationships with the people around us, known or unknown. To move beyond a reality of strangers to one that recognises our shared humanity."

Through Worlds of Fog by MichaelSullivan:

"This piece is inspired by the concept of decay, drawing on the physical degradation of various materials and the anxiety over how a person’s beliefs and ideals can become compromised overtime. This is reflected by the flute and cello mimicking the harmonic spectrum of the struck frying pans, with different frequencies fading at different rates. As the composition progresses, distortions gradually emerge, created by physically retracing earlier sections of the score and allowing natural changes to take shape."

The Last Broadcast by Neil O’Connor:

"The Last Broadcast uses morse code for durational / note length for directions. The electronics use acceleration/deceleration of tempo and the increasing/decreasing of density There are many things in the world of electronics that we take for granted. The Cybernetics Norbert Wiener(1894-1964) quoted: Progress imposes not only new possibilities for the future but new restrictions. In the age of the self, the inspiration of the piece and title of the piece refers to the possibility of all communication devices disappearing and a return to the most basic use of tools of communication: the morse code."

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Biographies:

Laura Sheeran:

Laura Sheeran is a multidisciplinary artist and director from Galway, currently living in Dublin. Laura works mainly with sound, video, theatre and dance. Laura began working with Crash Ensemble in 2015, since then she has worked extensively with Crash filming performances, creating accompanying visuals for new compositions and live performances, documenting their processes and helping craft a visual identity for the band through performance direction.

Paul Scully

Paul Scully is a composer from Dublin, Ireland. His practice is interdisciplinary, borrowing from performance art, theatre, philosophy, literature, and visual art. Speech and language are often important features in his music. Much of his work is site-specific, and sometimes context-specific, considering the full gamut of an audience’s experience. Recent works 'Will We Give it a Bash?' and 'Everything’s Left That’s Worth Defence' – both premiered in 2022 – seek to subvert the assumptions of the audience through playful, humorous, and often chaotic means.

He is the general manager of the experimental music ensemble Kirkos and runs their venue and artist space, Unit 44, in Stoneybatter, Dublin.

Emmelle Wadding

Emmelle [Elle] Wadding is a multi-genre musician based in the South-East of Ireland. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate in composition at Trinity College Dublin where she holds an M.Phil. in Music & Media Technology, in addition to a BA (hons) in Music from WIT (now SETU), where she specialised in music technology and orchestral composition.

Elle is a contemporary composer and sound designer specialising in audio-visual perception and cross-modal composition. Much of her musical work has been in response to visual art, including theatre, photography, and architecture. She has worked as sound designer for award-winning theatrical productions throughout Ireland and in 2023 was the assistant musical director for Tipperary’s largest ever theatrical production ‘From Out The Land’. Her past research has included building computer programmes that converts music played into a piano into visual components to enable closer audio-visual relationship understandings and learning experiences. Recently, she was commissioned to compose a new piece for Garter Lane Studios, which includes incorporating the newly renovated art-specific building into the viewing experience. Her research and music are fueled passionately with the intent of making contemporary art accessible. Her current Ph.D. aims to promote community engagement in contemporary music through street art.

Jenn Kirby

Jenn Kirby is a composer, performer and music technologist, who writes instrumental composition, electroacoustic music and live electronics. Jenn makes hybrid musical instruments using software, sensors and re-purposed controllers. Her music often engages with physicality and texture.

Maeve Kelly

Maeve Kelly is a composer, improviser and cellist based in Dublin, Ireland and is currently nearing completion of her DPhil in Music Composition under the supervision of composer Gráinne Mulvey at Technological University Dublin. Her area of expertise is the musical exploration and translation of lived experience, particularly in relation to socio-political and health related issues.

A socially minded artist, Maeve has a broad experience in arts administration and leading DIY art projects. From 2022-2023, Maeve was the director of the Irish Composers Collective, an organisation dedicated to providing emerging composers with a community and creating platforms for sharing new music. During her time with the ICC she directed a three-day festival, ICC Salon (2022) which facilitated the creation and premiere of 36 new works by ICC members involving collaborations with visual, film and dance artists.

Dani Larkin

Dani Larkin is a songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist currently based in Belfast. Her debut album, Notes For A Maiden Warrior (2021), received widespread critical acclaim and catapulted Larkin to the international stage with performances at SXSW and WOMEX as well as tours with Snow Patrol, Lisa O'Neill, Glen Hansard, and Rufus Wainwright.

Larkin has since collaborated with the Ulster Orchestra and RTÉ Concert Orchestra and released Walking With Natives (2023) which saw her tour Australia, Korea, Finland, Canada, Ireland and a run of sold out shows at the Irish Arts Centre NYC.

With television appearances on BBC 1, Virgin Media Ireland's Fanning At Whelans, Canada's CTV, alongside radio performances on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour and RTÉ Radio 1 Larkin has accompanied her songwriting prowess with insights into story and song taking the listener on a pathway to the beyond.

With a profound performance at the RTÉ Folk Awards coupled with her tours in Europe, Australia, Asia and North America, Larkin has been heralded as a ‘must-see’ live performer on the national and international stage. Described as a ‘beguiling’ and powerful’, songwriter and ‘virtuoso guitarist’ (Songlines Magazine) Larkin’s live performances enrapture audiences in a seamlessly woven narrative within a carefully curated sonic landscape.

Michael Sullivan

Michael Sullivan is a composer, writer, and performer based in Dublin. In 2019, he graduated from Maynooth University with a BA in Music and Mathematical Physics. As part of an elective year studying electroacoustics in Montreal, he regularly performed with The Concordia University Laptop Orchestra.

He also worked with multiple dance ensembles as part of Studio 7, a monthly event showcasing experimental interdisciplinary performances. His contributions ranged from live instrumentation to creating music patches controlled by live movement and radio static.

In recent years, Michael has worked as a sound designer and composer for various theatrical

productions and podcasts. Notable projects include The Bootsy Boys' Blackbird (Best Fiction - Winner - 2022 Irish Podcast Awards) and Chiron: A One Centaur Show (Spirit of Wit - Nominee - 2023 Dublin Fringe).

Since 2018, he has also been involved in improvised theatre, performing in numerous festivals in Ireland and Europe, including Otherside Festival in Meath and the Edinburgh Fringe. In 2023, he wrote and performed in the absurdist play The Lead-Pipe Pigeon Brigade as part of the Scene and Heard Festival for new work. Musically and artistically he is most interested in non-traditional instrumentation, feedback loops, incorporating ideas from other creative disciplines, and playing with dream logic.

Neil O’Connor

Composer and performer Neil O Connor has been involved in experimental & electro-acoustic music for the past two decades and has performed extensively in Ireland, Europe, Australia, Asia and the US. His work has been shown/performed at MOMA, New York, IRCAM Paris, Institute of Contemporary Art, London and has held residencies at the Massachusetts Museum of Modern Art, EMS - Swedish Institute of Electro-Acoustic Music, Stockholm, Sweden and the National Concert Hall, Dublin. He has worked / collaborated with members of Crash Ensemble, Phillip Glass Ensemble, Glenn Branca Ensemble, Bang On a Can Ensemble and the RTE Symphony Orchestra. His electroacoustic works have won award and mentions at Noroit-Léonce Petitot (Arras, France), Euphonie D’Or des Concours International de Musique Electroacoustique (France), Musica Nova Electroacoustic Music Competition, (Czech Republic), Concurso Internacional de Música Eletroacústica de São Paulo and had special jury mention at Prix Ars Electronica and Euphonie D’Or des Concours International de Musique Electroacoustique, Bourges (France).

Neil studied at Trinity College, Dublin (M.Litt/PhD Music) under composers Donnacha Dennehy and Roger Doyle. His primary training was in film where he studied at the National Film School,

IADT, and has worked as a film composer and sound designer on numerous feature films, shorts and documentaries.

His work is represented in Ireland by the CMC (Contemporary Music Center), AIC (Association of Irish Composers), ISSTA (Irish Sound, Science and Technology Association), SMC (Spatial Music Collective), published by IMRO (Irish Musical Rights Organization) and Scintilla Recordings.

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