Paul Alty is a Liverpool born and bred musician and award-winning lighting designer with an unhealthy interest in all things that combine music and sound, lighting and lasers and all other art forms into immersive sensory experiences.
As a musician, Alty has released music digitally since 2013 and currently has 13 releases on iTunes/Spotify etc. Of particular interest is his series of Behind The Clock albums – these are a soundtrack to a story dealing with time, space, mortality and our position in space and time and the story is the foundation for a number of multimedia installation pieces he is working on.
As a composer and lighting designer, Alty explores combining both of his areas of expertise into the design and production of large-scale immersive and sensory audiovisual artistic installations which will satisfy both an extravaganza adrenaline rush and an in-depth response and interpretation of astro and quantum physics, time, mortality and the natural world.
Alty been involved in lighting, sound and performance for decades but his artistic practice is new. Using light and sound, fundamentally, his pieces are, on the surface at least, a light and sound show. But there is a story, there is science, there is science fiction, there are responses to nature and at times, a socio-political aspect. And that is where he has an edge. Catering to a very broad audience, people can watch and listen, take a selfie and move on. Or they can stay, watch the piece unfold, learn about the thoughts and theories behind it. Be challenged by what is being presented and do their own research. Alty’s work has mass appeal and is equally at home presented in a club, a gallery event space, a church or an abandoned building.
How would you describe your style?
Visually, it’s huge, bold, venue-filling and immersive. The venue is incorporated into the piece through lighting and effects. Musically, my preferred composting style is wide, cinematic soundscapes that drum up emotion. And combined with the visuals, my style is hit deliver a metaphorical hit to the audience where they feel the sounds and feel the light and are transported somewhere else.
Can you tell us about your artistic process?
I don’t have a fixed process, as it depends on what comes first, the visual or the music. For the musical process, one thing that is for certain is that I work fast; once I have an idea, I work and work to get everything out of my head and recorded as quickly as possible. But because I hear colours, this can often dictate the style of the visual and whether it requires air-splitting laser beams or softer ambient and architectural lighting.
Where’s your studio and what’s it like?
My studio is my home. My music and generally creative studio is a bedroom and when I have a project to work on, I usually take over the whole house. My studio is full of all kinds of synthesizers, lasers, lighting, smoke machines and all kinds of bits and bobs for testing and prototyping. It’s usually an organised mess but at the moment, it’s very tidy.
Is narrative important within your work?
Both yes and no. Within my work there needs to be a story or concept. Within with both light and sound, both are intrinsically linked as I hear colours and if the sounds don’t match the image or colour palette in my head, the work does not progress. So in my larger immersive multimedia pieces, there is a story and a narrative but equally, I don’t want my work to be preachy. I want it to be accessible on different levels, the first fundamentally being light and music, just watch and listen and enjoy it on face value. If the audience wants to delve into the deeper narrative and story, then that is available too. But first and foremost my world must be simply something that people want to experience.
Who are your favourite artists and why?
There are so many from so many different areas. From a more ‘traditional’ perspective, I have long been obsessed with Dali and the surrealist movement in general. And a new favourite is British artist, Paul Corfield, with his dream-like naive landscapes. I also own a Kerry Darlington piece, again, for the naive, whimsical nature and bold colours. Then into the larger more installation-based works, I really enjoy some pieces by Saad Qureshi, specifically his moon pieces and ‘When The Moon Split’ and the planetary work of Luke Jerram. Museum of the Moon is an awesome piece of work, majestic and stunning. And like Saad, the idea of bringing planets and moons into almost touching distance and filling a space with another celestial body is about as surreal as you can get. Then for multimedia works, I’m a huge fan of Christopher Bauder and his collaborations with Kangding Ray and Robert Henke – a true synergy of art with light and sound. And similarly, other studios such as PlayModes, CocoLab and teamLab all produce venue filing and immersive works that involve light and sound and are installations that may or may not have a story, but they can just ben enjoyed for what they are. British collective, SquidSoup are worthy of note too, for their interactive multimedia LED pieces. A final artist to name is Rafael Lozano-Hemmer – his Atmospheric Memory collection in Manchester was wonderful, clever and something I aspire to.
What or who inspires your art?
Certainly, all of those listed above are a huge source of inspiration, but there are a handful of lighting designers that inspire, as well as musicians. Two lighting designers of note are LeRoy Bennet and Chris Moylan, both are bold in their approach, strong colours and angles and they do things that look a bit different. Musically, influences could go on forever as they span from Faure and Vivaldi to Jean-Michel Jarre, Orbital and WooYork. A main source of inspiration throughout all my work is space and the cosmos. Astrophysics is a consistent theme throughout my life.
Do you have any studio rituals?
No, other than that I work alone.
What are you working on currently?
I have just finished a trial of several pieces in a church. I had an agreement to perform three pieces in a venue in Liverpool but sadly, just before the rehearsals started, the venue closed down due to ongoing coronavirus restrictions. The body of work is called ‘End of Time’ and consists of four installations involving black holes, neutron stars and a laser-created false nature. The pieces are an extension of my albums, the triptych, ‘Behind The Clock’ where themes are extrapolated out into self-contained multimedia, immersive art pieces. One-piece, Neutron Star Shadows has a soundtrack that uses the sounds of neutron stars captured by radio telescopes and the audio soundscape for this piece is part of a new body of music work with which work is ongoing. There is also a fourth, ‘Behind The Clock’ album in the works which will complete the series.
Where can we buy your art?
My music is available online, on all download and streaming services. I am hoping that after coronavirus, my pieces will be performed in venues where audiences can experience it and steal a selfie or two with a black hole. And by downloading or streaming the music, then can relive the sound experience in their own time again and again.
Links:
Website: https://paulaltymusic.wixsite.com/paulalty
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/WaxApul/videos
Interview: https://stereostickman.com/interviews/paul-alty/
Music on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/04KhJKW5ZVXT8eqZVpDc0i
Music on Apple/iTunes: https://music.apple.com/gb/artist/paul-alty/662984930
Instagram: @Waxapul
Twitter: @Waxmango
