‘Belonging in Stokes Croft’ is an 8.1 soundscape piece that follows my relationship with the Bristol district of Stokes Croft. Compiled from a mixture of ambisonic and stereo field recordings all derived from the neighbourhood, the piece hopes to immerse the listener into a realistic representation of the area, whilst also using my experiences and feelings connected to the area to inform the compositional process.
Since October of 2022, I have worked front of house in The Crafty Egg, a popular brunch café in Stokes Croft. With little prior knowledge of Stokes Croft, I was excited to discover the diverse and artistic community championed by the People’s Republic of Stokes Croft (PRSC). I quickly, however, felt tensions between the many different walks of life within the area’s community and its fight against gentrification. This inspired me to compose a soundscape piece of music that confronted my mixed feelings about the area and challenged me to become more involved with the community in Stokes Croft.
I wrote questions on paper with pots of pens placed beside and left them on the tables of The Crafty Egg with a little blurb on the back that contextualised the project. This gave hundreds of customers at the café the opportunity to anonymously feedback their opinions and experiences within the area whilst waiting for the coffee or food.
The greatest strength within this project was how being mindful and reflective of my sonic environment around me enabled me to feel much more connected to the community around me. I felt more justified as a member of the community as I sat outside of cafes and pubs, or in the middle of various traffic islands, focusing on the sounds that surrounded me. Going through the sound recordings was a cathartic experience, as curating them into a soundscape provided an opportunity to process my emotions attached to certain places and times of day from a different perspective.