Confronting the Shadow: a Power Electronics Praxis Michael Blenkarn
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Confronting the Shadow: A Power Electronics Praxis Michael Blenkarn Doctor of Philosophy The International Centre for Music Studies Newcastle University August 2019 Abstract Confronting the Shadow is a practice-led research project based on composition and recording in the Power Electronics music modality. The submission comprises seven albums and a written thesis. Power Electronics is a confrontational form of music practice situated within the noise music genre. The purpose of the research is to use this modality as a vehicle for exploring relations between noise, the urban space and mental health. As practice-led research, these relations are accounted for in a written thesis that has been structured to support and map the recorded material. The discursive methodology described by Somerville as postmodern emergence is employed to describe how the ideas and arguments made in the thesis component have emerged from the process of creating the portfolio. Key ideas incorporated in this manner throughout the thesis are adapted from the psychoanalytic works of Carl Gustav Jung, in particular his confrontation with the shadow. Jung’s ideas are explored in conjunction with material from musicology (Hegarty, Novak, Keenan, Attali), social policy (Barham, Moon, Kearns & Joseph, Laurance, the Schizophrenia Commission, Rethink Mental Illness), psychogeography (Sinclair, Raban, Vidler, Coverley), psychology (Laing & Esterson), film studies (Balsom & Peleg, Rabiger), and more, to create a nuanced multidisciplinary mapping of the portfolio and its interrogation of noise, the urban space and mental health. Emphasis is placed on the context of deinstitutionalisation – the socio- cultural and political transfer of mental healthcare from institutions to the community in the late 20th century – that transformed the experience of both the urban space and mental illness in this period. The portfolio and its supporting discourse explore the role that different kinds of creative practice such as music and film play in the generation and mediation of ideas and attitudes towards mental illness and its care, and demonstrate how the conclusions drawn from this analysis have informed the continuing development of the practice in consequence. i ii Acknowledgements To Alex, without whose unfailing love, support and patience throughout this endeavour, and indeed most things, would never have been possible. These ‘Angry Hoovers’ are for you. To my family, for their incredible moral (not to mention financial) support throughout all my years of study and the various career shifts and mishaps along the way; a special thanks to my dad, Rob, for introducing me to two of the key books I have used here, thereby helping me to find the right path. To the Durning family, who have given me such a warm welcome, and are yet to ask me to haud my wheesht. To my supervisory team of Will Edmondes and Ian Biddle, whose enthusiasm, encouragement and keen eyes and ears have been invaluable throughout the many incarnations of this work, as I found my voice and discovered what I wanted to say. To Adam and Andrea Brunn, who invited me along on their trip to explore the Elswick Lead Works site in the first place, catalysing much of the research that followed. To Saulius Bielskis, who mastered much of this music through goodwill, and has provided great feedback and encouragement throughout my chequered career in horrible noises. To Winston Smith of Unrest Productions and Karl Rogers of Fall Of Nature, for ironclad support, encouragement and for believing in my music enough to invest their hard-earned time and money in it. To Jamie and Joanna at Food Nation, who helped me to juggle work and study for many years and were equally supportive when I eventually decided I had to put study first. To Brooke Johnson, partner in crime through many years of friendship, musical misadventure and brainworms; and to all my bandmates over the years, for sharing of passions, travails and ridiculous antics. To the much-missed Steven Black, whose philosophy of life I can only aspire to; I wish you were here to share this moment, to puncture my pomposity and put things into perspective as you always did. To Gus the cat, who helped. iii iv Contents Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... i Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................. iii Contents ..................................................................................................................................... v Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 1 0.1 An Encounter with the Other ................................................................................................ 1 0.2 Noise and Mental Illness ...................................................................................................... 5 0.3 Modalities for Madness ........................................................................................................ 8 0.4 An Emergent Voice ............................................................................................................ 12 0.5 Jung at Heart ....................................................................................................................... 14 Chapter 1. Urban Alchemy .................................................................................................... 19 1.1 A Transgression .................................................................................................................. 19 1.2 Industrial Mudlarks ............................................................................................................ 21 1.3 Questions of Memory ......................................................................................................... 26 1.4 The City as a Site of Noise and Mental Illness ................................................................... 28 1.5 Lead Astray ........................................................................................................................ 34 1.6 The Alchemical Art ............................................................................................................ 36 1.7 Urban Oracles ..................................................................................................................... 40 1.8 Once More Unto The Breach.............................................................................................. 42 1.9 Soft Cities and Hard Realities ............................................................................................ 47 1.10 Urban Shards .................................................................................................................... 49 1.11 Onward ............................................................................................................................. 53 Chapter 2. Asylum Archetype ............................................................................................... 55 2.1 The Absent Centre .............................................................................................................. 55 2.2 Sightings ............................................................................................................................. 65 2.3 Accountability Anxiety ...................................................................................................... 72 2.4 Fear For The Mind .............................................................................................................. 77 2.5 The Archetypes ................................................................................................................... 79 Figure 1: Jung’s Model of the Psyche ...................................................................................... 82 2.6 Psychic Breakdown ............................................................................................................ 83 2.7 Asylum As Archetype ........................................................................................................ 84 2.8 Reimagining Sounds as Archetypes ................................................................................... 85 2.9 A Lexicon of Sound Indexes & Techniques ....................................................................... 86 2.9 The Model of the Psyche as a Compositional Framework ................................................. 90 2.10 A Question of Power ........................................................................................................ 94 v Chapter 3. Confronting Shadow ........................................................................................... 96 3.1 A Confrontational Sound ................................................................................................... 96 3.2 A Question of Intent ........................................................................................................... 98 3.3 A Confrontation with the Shadow .................................................................................... 103 3.4 Staging the Confrontation ................................................................................................ 107 Conclusion............................................................................................................................. 111 4.1 In Praise of