Where The Waves Erode The Heavens, by Ruaridh Law

Where The Waves Erode The Heavens

by Ruaridh Law

supported by

	/

Streaming + Download

Includes high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. Paying supporters also get unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app.

Purchasable with gift card

name your price
Where The Waves Erode The Heavens - ltd edition book/CD
Book/Magazine + Digital Album
A professionally printed 24 page book with the text of the original performance and beautiful b&w photos of the Isle of Lewis. Each book comes with a CD of the audio in a wallet at the back. This is No Roof Only Sky [3]

Includes unlimited streaming of Where The Waves Erode The Heavens via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Sold Out

1.	Where The Waves Erode The Heavens (live at CCA Glasgow) 30:00	info	buy track
2.	Where The Waves Erode The Heavens (Background version) 22:09
3.	Where The Waves (twin voices) 05:12

about

“Where The Waves Erode The Heavens” started, as most things do with me, as a last minute dash to complete something I’d committed to without planning it out. I’d submitted material for broadcast on the excellent Radiophrenia (a month of online sound-art broadcast online and live from the CCA in Glasgow) and they’d asked me if I would like to also perform something live during the month; I said yes, without really thinking what I could do.

With a few weeks left to go, and other deadlines having eclipsed this one, I had to pull something together reasonably quickly. Electing to focus on something with voices in it - as befitted a radio broadcast - and realising that I’d collected a lot of photos, film and sound recordings from the Isle of Lewis, it seemed like the seed of an idea was right under my nose. A beautiful map of the etymology of Gaelic placenames in the Arnol and Bragar areas of North Lewis (created by Anne Campbell for the excellent Grinneabhat arts centre on the island) had been sitting on a table in my house for months, and this suddenly provided the inspirational glue to hold it all together.

The text, audio and technical setup coalesced almost immediately; first the audio, mixing clarsach, harp and sung psalms with a deep chanter drone; then, a live performance interface built in Max/MSP and a Monome Norns to improvise and layer the audio; and finally, the text which was written in two nights, one per section, and mostly arrived out of thin air. For the voices, the first section had a world weary, well spoken Central Scotland drawl that was identical in my head to that of my friend (and gifted actor) Ronan Doyle - who, used to my sometimes pretentious-seeming whims, agreed with zero thought in return for a bottle of malt. And for the section containing Gaelic, only my mum Mòrag would be the right fit (not least as she wrote the first of these little No Roof Only Sky books in the first place)

I spent the bulk of my adolescence and early artistic career convincing myself that my Island heritage had little to no part to play in my own creative life, and put a lot of effort into trying to ignore it. It’s taken the last few years to realise that, instead, I was just looking for my own personal connection to the land - my own place Where The Waves Erode the Heavens. In the rocky, wind-blasted and desolate beauty of the north of Lewis, I think I’ve finally found it.

credits

released December 20, 2023

license

some rights reserved

about

No Roof Only Sky Scotland, UK

Beautiful books and music, made in Glasgow by Ruaridh Law / TVO and Good Press

ruaridhtvo.com

contact / help

Contact No Roof Only Sky

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Where The Waves Erode The Heavens, you may also like:

Districts, Roads, Open Space
by Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan

supported by 7 fans who also own “Where The Waves Erode The Heavens”

This is up there with Pye Corner Audio and The Advisory Circle. Excellent stuff. Andy Ralph
go to album
Moonbuilding Autumn Collection
by Moonbuilding

supported by 7 fans who also own “Where The Waves Erode The Heavens”

I'm so happy someone is doing this. Beautifully designed zine. Fascinating articles and writing. CD is all bangers. I look forward to the next issue. Scott Sugiuchi
go to album
The Long Road South
by TVO & Agents of the Culture Industry

supported by 7 fans who also own “Where The Waves Erode The Heavens”
go to album
aint about me
by aint about me

In a lane all his own, aint about me lays moody spoken word over rippling soundscapes on songs that feel cinematic in scope. Bandcamp New & Notable Nov 23, 2020
go to album
DEAR DAISY : OPIUM
by Kojey Radical

featured on Bandcamp Radio Jun 6, 2017
go to album
Hope/Currency
by rPH and Kins of Spade

This album by Kenyan electronic producer rPH and poet Kins of Spade reflects on the impact of religion in their lives and society. Bandcamp New & Notable May 12, 2023
go to album
Stroudwater
by TVO

supported by 7 fans who also own “Where The Waves Erode The Heavens”
go to album