zYklen - Panache Marin

Single "Panache Marin" (Sea Plume) released as part of the Mare Nostrum Dive In Chapter 6 compilation, celebrating World Sea Day (Sep 30, 2023)

zYklen – Palace of Chords

Palace Of Chords was recorded throughout 2022. The ten songs combine the textures of field recordings (captured while walking), voices, reed and string instruments, supported by synthesis and audio manipulation, creating a musical experience inspired by nature. The running order is conceived as a day and night spent trekking coast, wood and moorland, each song leading into the next; with the final track linking back to the first in a seamless loop.

zYklen - Couches de l'Océan

Single "Couches de l'Océan" (Ocean Layers) released as part of the Mare Nostrum Dive In Chapter 5 compilation, celebrating World Ocean Day (Jun 8, 2023).

zYklen – Entropy

This album is for Maureen, my mum. Thank you for the music...

Recorded in Summer/Autumn 2022, "Entropy" is most commonly associated with a state of disorder, randomness, or uncertainty. My preference is the Greek origin of the word: en- "within", and trop- "change", essentially: change within (a closed system).

Decay and rebirth in all things; turning in cycles; sometimes perceptible, sometimes observed after the passage of time, like layers in stone; exposed by a glacier; washed to the sea; compressed and eventually formed back into mountain ranges.

zYklen - Evocation de l'eau

Single "Evocation de l'eau" (Evocation of Water) released as part of the Mare Nostrum Dive In Chapter 4 compilation, celebrating World Water Day (Mar 23, 2023).

zYklen – Sleepwalk

Single released as part of the Ambient III compilation on Atlantea Records

zYklen – Refracted

Refracted is the result of recording and mixing sessions over a 6-month period during Spring/Summer 2022.

zYklen – Couvre La Mer

Single "Couvre La Mer" (Covers the Sea) released as part of the Mare Nostrum Dive In Chapter 3 compilation.

zYklen – Threshold

The theme of this album is threshold perception. That instant where we become aware that our view point has altered or needs to alter, that what we perceive or perhaps how we are perceived, is now different. Whether driven by aspiration or outside force, in that moment, we become aware of crossing a threshold.

zYklen – Particles

Recorded between Sep 2020 and Feb 2021. "Particles" is based around themes of human nature; Our individual and collective place in the universe; How we define ourselves as individuals is also shaped by the space we inhabit collectively; Able to visualise and manifest a personal identity, whilst displaying little collective ownership or responsibility for the outcome of what that aspiration means for us all.

We come from and return to being particles.

Voyetra – Kalimari

Archive album #3/3 ‘98–‘00.

Voyetra – Alchemy

Archive album #2/3 ‘93–‘98.

Voyetra – Plateau

Archive album #1/3 ‘92–‘97.

zYklen – Kernewek Golowji

Kernewek Golowji is dedicated to the light keepers of Cornwall. Although now automated and unmanned, lighthouses around the coast of Cornwall are still operational, the lights & fog horns an aide to vessels.

For hundreds of years Cornwall's rugged coastline and outlying reefs, which often lurk just below the surface of the water, have been hazardous to passing vessels. Lighthouses were a godsend to sailors and the keepers of these lights undertook a huge huge responsibility to maintain the lights & horns.

Written between Sep 2019–Sep 2020, Kernewek Golowji is the second part of a triptych of releases themed around Cornwall. The cover is a photo of Longships Lighthouse, Lands End by cornwalloncamera.

zYklen – Tirwedh Eglos Teg

Tirwedh Eglos Teg is dedicated to the Neolithic settlers of ancient Cornwall. Numerous megaliths (dolmen, menhir & stone circles) from this period exist in Cornwall, the landscape monuments that remain are scattered across the county from Penwith to Bodmin Moor and have long been an influence and an inspiration.

Written between Jan–Sep 2020, Tirwedh Eglos Teg is the second part of a triptych of releases themed around Cornwall. The cover is a photo of Chûn Quoit, Penwith by Cornwalloncam. Strongly encourage you to explore their work which captures the essence of Cornwall and succinctly conveys much of the intent of this album.

zYklen – Lynyeth Kemmyn

Lynyeth Kemmyn is dedicated to my family; connected by a series of relationships; each branch a new starting point; common ancestry linked by the same pattern, repeating. My experience growing up centred on Cornwall, a place where nature and ancestry are closely linked; becoming a powerful influence on the concept for this album.

Written between Jan–Jul 2020, Lynyeth Kemmyn is the first part of a triptych of releases themed around Cornwall (also featuring Cornish album name and song titles).

zYklen – Veils Decrypted

Charitable fundraising has been hit very hard by the COVID-19 so as part of #TwoPointSixChallenge Hibernate will release 26 free download/pay as much as you can afford EP or albums on Bandcamp. 100% income being donated to charities. All proceeds from this EP go to Medicins Sans Frontiers. This release is #21 in the series.

zYklen – Sequential 26

Composed a song a day for 26 consecutive days in support of YoungMinds Trust UK between May 24 & Jun 18: Sequential 26 is the outcome. All performances recorded live with video, uploaded to Youtube, Instagram & Facebook.

zYklen – Pleura

Created during a low-point in physical health and mental well-being, these songs were recorded quickly with little to no sequencing, relying on playing and performing. Returning to the recordings during recovery uncovered some gentle, sometimes somber, sometimes tender moments had been captured.

An album was assembled from the many hours of music, with song titles paying homage to the medical language within the many letters received. Although this sounds bleak, the process of writing and as a means to document recovery has been very cathartic.

zYklen – Pölym

A compilation of songs recorded over the past year or so which focus on melody, harmony and counterpoint as opposed to purely textural or abstract composition.

The intention was always to create an album to showcase these songs; providing a gentle, musical experience that could have been encountered at any point in the last thirty (plus) years at the meeting points of documentary soundtrack, new-age or ambient electronic music.

zYklen – Sonation

Recorded between Mar & Sep 2019, these compositions were inspired by "Sonation" the sound produced by birds, using mechanisms other than the throat. Structures such as the bill, wings, tail, feet and feathers, or by the use of tools.

Rather than attempt to replicate or manipulate directly the sound of birds, the inspiration for this project was to produce an ambient, drone-like "Sonation" using an instrument not conventionally associated with producing sustained or melodic sounds, in this case a single (hybrid analog/sampling) drum machine.

As with most other zYklen releases these are all single-take recordings of loosely structured improvisations. This time with a fixed 10-minute recording window.

zYklen – Alignment A

Recorded between Nov 2017 and Nov 2018, the tracks featured on Alignment A+B were composed in single sessions and recorded to stereo in single takes. They feature little to no editing, retaining each performance as captured, often using a single instrument, or at most an ensemble of 2 or 3 for each composition.

Although melodic phrases feature throughout, timbral and tonal transformations were more important to achieving the desired rising and falling intensity, taking the listener on a journey through moments of beauty to more atonal textures.

The running order of Alignment A+B is also chronological. Presenting the compositions in this way further extends the concept of a listening journey which follows the order in which they were created.

zYklen – Alignment B

zYklen – Ramat Ridge I

EP 1/2 inspired by the view of the Tamar Bridges from recording studio.

All tracks performed live in one take with only a little mastering to balance dynamics.

Start by loading a selection of environmental sounds, piano, synth, etc into sampler and manipulate from there. Spend a few hours getting a collection of sounds which work well together. Normally have a main theme and variation, once I know the start point and peak, the arrangement is improvised from there.

Try to keep the length between 5-8 mins and complete 2 or 3 versions (first is normally best). Always complete compositions in one session to ensure focus is not lost.

zYklen – Ramat Ridge II

EP 2/2 inspired by the view of the Tamar Bridges from recording studio.

All tracks performed live in one take with only a little mastering to balance dynamics.

Start by loading a selection of environmental sounds, piano, synth, etc into sampler and manipulate from there. Spend a few hours getting a collection of sounds which work well together. Normally have a main theme and variation, once I know the start point and peak, the arrangement is improvised from there.

Try to keep the length between 5-8 mins and complete 2 or 3 versions (first is normally best). Always complete compositions in one session to ensure focus is not lost.

zYklen – London Live

Remastered album of live performance at The Brixton Junction, Aug 1998.

This album was improvised live with each starting point a "config" within the sequencer. Using two analogue synthesisers, a digital sampler and two analogue effects plus small mixer, allowed the creation of evolving soundscapes that are unique to each performance.

zYklen – Performants

Remastered album of archive material recorded between 1994 and 1997.

Performants is about spontaneity, room for error, feedback and chaos. Creating freeform sound, where environmental and chance factors are captured within a narrow time frame, free to follow any path as it evolves.

Recordings are achieved by using analogue synthesisers and effects, allowing the creation of liquid soundscapes which evolve during performance - having a microphone or short wave radio attached to the system allows outside forces to influence the proceedings. All equipment is heavily modified to gain access to modulating every aspect of their sound.

As feedback is an essential ingredient in the mix, the creation of each piece is a fine balance between keeping enough level in the system to yield an output but not so much that the sound become saturated. Careful enveloping and filtering of the feedback level is kept in motion by a chain of gates that step sequences, samples and oscillators, which themselves may be triggering other sequences and oscillations, which may in turn be contributing to another sequence... you get the picture.

The audible and voltage outputs of each unit are capable of being applied to the inputs of any other and with their output influencing the amount of level being applied elsewhere, a huge complexity evolves, which only requires the smallest change to modify the mood or pace.

Combined with feed back and sample looping, it creates a very tense and fragile song structure which can implode or expand into complete distortion depending on many chance factors.

zYklen – Monitor

Archive of cassette tape recordings made in the period 1994–1996, remastered in 2017 and re-released in 2020.