Sound UK’s artist development programme, Sound Generator, supports early career artists and the work they present.
In this series of Spotlight interviews, we find out more about the artists on our 2023 artist development programme, delve deeper into their Sound Generator project and discover what the process has meant to them.
This week, we talk to Caitlin LM.
Caitlin LM is an electronic producer, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist from Manchester.
Please tell us about your Sound Generator project. What is it and where did the initial inspiration come from?
This project is a musical guided mushroom forage/funghi exploration. Recently I’ve become really interested in the world of funghi and how funghi interact with our world, and there is so much to learn, it’s fascinating. So I was really excited to create an immersive music and funghi experience in response to this!
How has your idea developed during the programme so far? And what have you learnt?
It’s been really exciting looking at how it would work practically - I want the project to be partly outdoors, so alongside thinking about how I am responding musically, I have also been looking at how this actually works!
What has this opportunity meant to you?
As an independent artist, there’s often a lot of pressure to have things finished and ready, but there are so many components to creating work, and so much development that people don’t see. It’s such a huge relief to be given the time and space to develop things at a pace that feels right.
Has it helped you to develop your creative practice? If so, how?
I’ve learnt a lot about field recording, and I’ve started to experiment with lots of ways to incorporate sounds from nature into my music!
Who are your key artistic influences for this project?
I’m really inspired by artists who use nature either as inspiration or literally use recordings as part of what they do. Jon Hopkins’ ‘Music For Psychedelic Therapy’ comes to mind in particular, as his use of nature not just in terms of recordings but also as spaces for sound processing is really exciting.
What have you been listening to recently? Any new music recommendations?
Redivider by VLMV is on repeat for me at the moment! Incredibly soothing and beautiful, a gorgeous cross over between production and live instrumentation.
What are your hopes for this project? How do you see it developing beyond this initial 6-month award?
I’m hoping that I can secure funding to develop the whole project and take it on for a run of shows as part of a rural tour, which will also include foraging and talks about funghi.
Photo credits: The pictures are all from the guided forage I went on with David Winnard of Discover the Wild - a local funghi expert who took me round for the day and introduced me to all sorts of weird and wonderful specimens.
We look forward to sharing more details about Caitlin LM's Sound Generator project as it develops. Visit Caitlin's Instagram and follow to find out more about her work.
Sound Generator is Sound UK's artist research and development (R&D) programme that supports early-career artists and seeds the development of an ambitious new project. Following an open call, a panel of leading figures across contemporary music, chose six early-career artists working at the forefront of sound and music.
Sound Generator supports artists in the first 5-10 years of their career. Over the six month programme, they each receive mentoring by a range of professionals to develop an innovative project ready for showcasing to the industry.
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