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Thomas Burke - The Many Faced Ear

written by Tereza Blahova

On an exceedingly sleepy Sunday, I make a short pilgrimage across Camberwell’s Church Street — my destination, Thomas Burke’s latest music event, The Many Faced Ear, a curated evening of live music made using field recordings, featuring artists Hestor Dart, Romain Nagata, and Harry of Patchwork HQ.

The enclosed gallery space is a welcome respite from inescapable November firework blasts outside. We all huddle together on mismatched carpets beneath a red-lamp-lit glow, awaiting the first act with a hush. Each of the three musicians follow on from each other smooth as butter, in what I take to be a deliberate curatorial effort. Following on from Harry’s introductory meditative soundscapes, Nagata provides a choppier and more audibly robust interpretation — brought partially out of prior quiet introspection, I stare so hard into the walls I begin to see patterns, themselves dancing to the rigid beats. The storm moves outside to inside, traversing stone walls as the music devolves experimentally, culminating in Dart’s explosive live violin solos, unlike anything I have heard before.

I make myself a promise to sit down with Burke to find out more about the evening, not only for Outhouse but to satisfy my personal curiosity — as a relative outsider to the music world, I am fascinated by his decision to set the event in a gallery space. I want to find out more about field recordings and experimental music as a whole, as well as his own generative musical practice outside curation. We set a meeting a couple weeks down the line, accidentally another Sunday, this time post-Sunday-roast rush at a busy pub, under the red glow of pub garden heaters, to talk music, local scenes, and happy accidents in the creative process.

Tereza: Thanks for coming! I’ve got some questions for you about the night, I’m not really in the music scene so please be patient with me.

So, to start- obviously the space [Outhouse] is a little art gallery, and you’ve previously put music nights on at more traditionally music-focused venues — was this choice of venue down to chance, or is it maybe more widely representative of how you perceive music-making, and specifically experimental noise or field-recording based music, as an art form?

Thomas: Okay, well, so the main thing is that it’s free [to host an event at Outhouse], which is always good [laughs]. It’s so important to have these inclusive venues in London — Outhouse has some great and diverse programming. Putting on events which are free, means one factor of the stress is cut out — in some ways it's better than a traditional music venue, because you don't have to meet a minimum bar spend, it's much more loose.

Having to provide my own sound kit was a little difficult, but I had recently gotten a good deal on some speakers, which I brought from my house, so that’s why it was painfully loud for everyone in there.

Tereza: No, I thought the volume was really lovely! It was immersive, but not overwhelming.

Would you say you feel particularly connected to the South East London arts community, is there an element of hosting these events with the local community in mind?

Thomas: I would say I'm not particularly connected to the scene — not because I don’t want to be, but because I don’t put on a huge amount of stuff. And that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy going to live music events, it’s just that nobody necessarily knows who I am, which is kind of fun, because the stakes are quite low. It means my nights can [feature] a mix of friends and people I message online. It’s kind of good when nobody knows who you really are because there’s not that much to lose, reputation wise.

Tereza: Well, that sort of leads into another question I had for you — I know you also make music, you've got a couple EPs, a cassette tape, a few things out and about?

How do you see this relationship between your own music and others' — is this curation an extension of your own creative practice, or is it separate- what motivates you to put these events on? Is it linked to your own desire to make music?

Thomas: Yeah, one tape and a CD.

But no, they're definitely not connected. The nights I put on, I would see them as having a very anti-curatorial ethos. I like a chaotic night, where not everything flows seamlessly, I like there to be jars and breaks. I would say my night at Outhouse is probably the most curated so far.

I think it was just a coincidence that they all [the three acts] happened to go together quite well, but they definitely could not have.

Tereza: I felt the running order was quite deliberate in terms of the intensity of the music, it took me on a journey through ways of making music, that all live in a similar realm, are all quite experimental, but the night felt like it eased you in and then got quite intense, and then even more experimental in a different way.

Thomas: Yeah, it definitely did get more intense as the night went on, but I think that was just a coincidence, if I'm being honest. But I agree, it did flow quite well. I knew I wanted Hestor to play last, because they play a live instrument, and I thought that would be a nice way to cap it off. But beyond that, there wasn’t too much of a purposeful choice.

Tereza: Wow, well, big happy accident then!

Also wondering, in a different vein now, what is your relationship with these artists, how do you find them?

Thomas: For this one, Harry is a friend, Romain I've met a couple times before and knew he makes experimental music. I like putting people on that don't necessarily play live a huge amount. Hestor, on the other hand, saw a play at Avalon Cafe and thought it was great, so I just sent them an email.

Tereza: Is there any element of you wanting to platform early career musical artists?

Thomas: I don't know — I don't necessarily care about the early career element, but I enjoy seeing people who don't really play a lot, I feel they end up making intimate and unusual music, things you wouldn't hear elsewhere. But I'm definitely not opposed to working with more established musicians. Hestor, for example, plays live quite a lot.

Tereza: The name of the event [The Many Faced Ear] comes from a three-part show of music essays you did for Radio Thamesmead. Is there a link between the two?

Thomas: Yeah, it's definitely based around themes I was thinking about when I did the show, the sort of music that I was seeking out when I did those three episodes, and I wanted to see it live, but I didn't find any events about field recordings out there.

Tereza: So you maybe feel like you're filling a gap, at least in terms of things that you're interested in seeing?

Thomas: Yeah, it's definitely music that I want to see, it's kind of selfish. It's stuff that I enjoy listening to, and it's fun putting it on.

Tereza: That's where the best stuff comes out of, when you have a real passion for it!

Could you tell me a little about why you're so drawn to experimental music and field recordings in the first place?

Thomas: I think experimental music is, in a way, easier to get into as someone who likes making music. There's a relatively low bar for entry. By that I mean, it's not too hard to make something, as a beginner, to make something you would enjoy listening to, when you're not trying to make something super polished, which takes so much more time and effort.

Tereza: And resources, I imagine.

Thomas: Yeah, yeah. And not that people don't make really great pop music, for example, using limited resources, but especially if you don't have any musical training or formal experience, you can just download software and buy a microphone and start having fun quite quickly. Not that anyone that played at Outhouse are beginners — far from it. But I just think that's sick, I like music that sounds like people are having fun when they're making it.

Tereza: What's next for you generally, in terms of both making and curating (or not curating) music?

Thomas: Well, I have an event at Spanners on the 10th of December [sadly passed at time of publishing but you can find the lineup info here], and I'm going to try and have another event in March at a yet-to-be confirmed South East venue.

And that's it- otherwise I'm always making music but that's just for fun. And I'm more than open to collaboration with others down the line — I'm just doing it for fun with no set direction, but if anyone wants to reach out, that's very welcome.

Tereza: I'm excited to see more from you! Thanks for speaking with me.

Thomas: No bother, thanks for having me.

Edited for clarity.