Track–listing

A
1 — Burroughs I
2 — Burroughs II
3 — Burroughs III

B
1 — Y (We Are Children mix)
2 — Y (Phase 47 Remote Rework)


We Are Children (We Make Sound) is a collective of composer–performers which emerged in 2011 from composition classes at London’s ICMP. The group exists as a free spirit, with an ever–evolving and revolving membership, at times inactive, at times coming together again. It meets to try out compositions by members and to explore experimental composition and processes. Originally formed and guided by Audrey Riley as an opportunity for composition students to try out their works, each of the group members now has an independent and strong musical path; however, they continue to meet to explore these ideas, to exchange, to listen, and to make sound.

Burroughs was composed for We Are Children (We Make Sound) in 2014 and premiered at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London in October that year. Recording sessions took place over an extended time period between 2015 and 2018.

Burroughs

The piece was written for a theatre project by the actor/musician Richard Strange, with whom I had worked on the Yuri Lyubimov production of Hamlet at the Leicester Haymarket Theatre. His work, Language is a Virus from Outer Space, was based on the life and work of the American writer William Burroughs, whose work I had read in the 1960s – copies bought in France, as his work was banned in the UK at that time.

I worked closely on the music with my friend and colleague, cellist Audrey Riley, who was music director for the project, and I composed the work for the ensemble We Are Children (We Make Sound). At the time, this comprised graduates from the Institute of Contemporary Music Performance, London, where Audrey teaches. It is quite a large ensemble, focusing on massed electric guitars and, for this piece, featuring James Woodrow, guitarist in my ensemble for over 32 years. The full instrumentation of Burroughs is six electric guitars (plus mandolin), flute, clarinet, percussion, keyboard, violin, cellos, and basses.

Burroughs has three sections, respectively slow, fast and slow, with James Woodrow leading the guitars with long lyrical solos in each movement. These involve lines with no attack from the guitar, a technique that James has perfected and which I feature within my own ensemble, along with low instruments such as Audrey’s cello. In some ways, I viewed We Are Children as a kind of surrogate Bryars Ensemble (and my own group actually contains all four of my children…), especially in the two outer movements. The central faster section may be a case of the various 'children' telling me that I ought, perhaps, to do more things like this… We should always take note of what our children tell us… and I do…

Gavin Bryars, Jul 2025

Y is a structured group improvisation that depends on listening. It was devised and created by We Are Children (We Make Sound) and recorded to tape in a single live take on one day in 2018. Subsequent responses were recorded remotely by group members. Recorded, compiled, and mixed by Alastair Beveridge with post–production contributions by Daniel Gaylard and Audrey Riley, this version was completed in 2024. In addition to this vinyl release, Y and its performer instructions exist as a web–based open invitation for future reworking and responses. It is a source for potential future remote conversations with infinite possibilities.

Y (Phase 47 Remote Rework) is mastering engineer Don Tyler’s response to the open invitation, a reworking of the original Y recording. It was completed during the album mastering in 2025.

Y (Phase 47 Remote Rework)

Upon hearing the original, pre–mastered version of Y, my ear was drawn to the open, free quality of the piece and its recording. It reminded me of something Conny Plank would have approved of. After I completed the mastering of Y, I was asked by Audrey Riley if I would like to have a go at a remix. My immediate answer was yes. I knew just what I’d do.

I wanted to retain the initial quality of the piece I was drawn to. I wanted the listener to feel that room, but also to bring in new electronic elements along with microsonic treatments via a eurorack modular system.

I threw a twenty–sided die to choose how many tracks I’d work with. A nine was rolled, and I chose from both the full stem tracks and shorter audio files. I created a new arrangement that was close, though not quite the same, as the original.

I wanted the sensibility of this reworked version to be ambient, but I also wanted it to be somewhat voyeuristic, in that the listener could still get a good sense of the original performance and recording. I created a sub–mix of the nine tracks and patched that out to my modular system where I ran the new stereo mix into a dual VCA for manipulation and treatments.

I created a 'guided–random' gate scenario through a clock pulse and a quad Bernoulli gate. The gate outputs would trigger functions, two of which that would open and close each side of the VCA. The audio continued through a series of further stages and then into a final processing module, where I was able to move the playhead of a virtual tape machine back and forth in time and freeze the input to create atmospheric clouds of microsonic drift.

It was important to listen with a critical ear and participate in this flow of signal from module to module, often offsetting and controlling parameters and processes by hand to impart a performative quality with an evocative ebb & flow, and to guide the overall narrative of the final piece.

The Remote Rework of Y was recorded in a single pass, and no further processing aside from mastering was performed. The dynamic–range of the recording has been preserved in mastering. A focused listening environment is recommended.

Don Tyler/ Phase47, Dec 2024
 

We Are Children (We Make Sound)

Burroughs:
Flute – Abi Murray
Clarinet, Guitar 6 – Richard Harris–Bond
Guitar 1 – James Woodrow (guest)
Guitar 2 – Alastair Beveridge
Guitar 3 – Robert Mullally
Guitar 4 – Patrick White
Guitar 5 – Nix Bakx
Mandolin – Alessandro La Barbera
Percussion – Elias Gargallo
Violin – Richard Jones
Cello 1, Piano, Keyboard – Audrey Riley
Cello 2 – Edwin Ireland
Bass 1 – Daniel Gaylard
Bass 2 – Jeremy Joel Price
Bass 3 – Pete Hunt

Y:
Flute – Abi Murray
Clarinet, Guitar, Synths, Processing – Richard Harris–Bond
Cello, Mute Synth – Audrey Riley
Bass, Korg Delta (1983) Synth – Daniel Gaylard
Glockenspiel, Percussion, Drums – Elias Gargallo
Triton, Guitar, Processing – Alastair Beveridge
Guitar – Patrick White
Bass – Pete Hunt
Vocals – Jo Kelsey (remote)
Guitar – Nix Bakx (remote)
Violin – Richard Jones (remote)
Bass – Jeremy Joel Price (remote)

Recorded in Rutland and London by We Are Children (We Make Sound), Asa Bennett & Audrey Riley. Produced by Audrey Riley. Burroughs mixed by Asa Bennet. Y recorded and mixed by Alastair Beveridge. Mastered by Don C Tyler. Cover design by Toby Cornish at Jutojo. Gavin Bryars published by Schotts P 2014