This month’s Kontakt celebrated the most recent work from a composer I admire hugely, Seán Clancy.
‘Where the Paths End’ was just released on NMC, and in their words:
Bringing together works written between 2013 and 2025, the album explores lived experience, repetition and loss through Clancy’s distinctive, deadpan aesthetic. Performed by the critically-acclaimed Plus-Minus Ensemble, it presents a focused body of work shaped by clarity, precision and emotional restraint.
The album centres on Clancy’s practice of “translation”: rendering everyday experiences into sound without commentary or judgement, allowing meaning to emerge through attentive listening. Environmental recordings, projected text and domestic sounds become musical material - drawing attention to both the monumental and the mundane.
Originally broadcast on CAMP Radio 2 June, listen back now on Mixcloud.
Blurred
At the core of Clancy’s work in this album are recordings made in the cities of London, Birmingham and Edinburgh, acting as the basis for emotive expansion through the interventions of Plus-Minus. His work is always subtle and personal, with even the very public exterior sonic ambience of these cities becoming sites for personal interaction with the ideas and experiences we bring to them.
Listening to Clancy’s work was an opportunity to also dig deeper into some less obvious city sounds, through some recordings made in Manchester by Christina Kubisch’s Electronic Walks project and archive.
Clancy very generously chose some works that were reflective of his both his current listening and the ideas that occupy ‘Where Paths End’: KMRU’s Blurred (feat. Fennesz), and Ø’s Sylvannus. I also chose some music by bassist/composer Farida Amadou to round out the programme.
By the way - you can now sign up to receive a broadcast day reminder email for the Kontakt show, so you can listen live!
Tracklist:
Christina Kubisch: Electrical Walk - Victoria station, Manchester 2017
Seán Clancy/Plus-Minus Ensemble: Where the Paths End movt I
KMRU: Blurred (feat. Fennesz)
Seán Clancy/Plus-Minus Ensemble: Where the Paths End movt VI
Ø: Sylvannus
Farida Amadou: Listen To
Seán Clancy/Plus-Minus Ensemble: We are not all here
Christina Kubisch: Electrical Walk - Circular LED Screen, Manchester 2017
Farida Amadou: The Virtuous Circle
Kontakt broadcasts once a month on Tuesdays at 13.00 CET (12.00 UK/Ire).
Albums featured:
Seán Clancy + Plus-Minus Ensemble - ‘Where the Paths End’ (NMC Recordings); KMRU - ‘Kin’ (Editions Mego); Ø- ‘Sysivalo’ (Sähkö Recordings); Farida Amadou - ‘When It Rains It Pours’ (independent)
Plus
Some recent travel photos
Exploring atomic age architecture at the Atomium, a slightly odd celebration of European democracy at Mini Europe; and new (the Cavern installation on Pont Neuf) and old (a classic view of the Louvre) art in Paris.
