Myrage

Another New Music Brighton project, this time for graphic and text-based scores. After some lengthy pondering, I decided I would set a photograph to music. The photograph, which can be found in the score, comes with a story…

I went to Norway for a weekend in October and set out on a day hike. Morning dew coated the green and golden trees, which were waking up to an unusually sunny day. After gaining some elevation, I emerged from the thick forest and, not long after, my foot sank ankle-deep into a treacly puddle of mud… my entire boot submerged. As I carried on walking, both boots sank numerous times in various different puddles of mud and water, some even hidden under the vegetation. Some scrambling was needed to avoid re-submersions but many were inevitable. I simply couldn't trust the terrain in front of me.

It was in between the numerous boot submersions (and I do mean numerous…) that I took the photograph, and around that same time I realized I was probably hiking around a bog, or bogs (emphasis on around!).

Hours later I was back in the forest and onto the next section of the hike and, shortly after, I almost lost it. Why? Because a stream of water seemed to replace the "path" and I feared that I might run into an impassable creek or lake and have to turn back. However, primal courage took over and I followed the stream by hopping on rocks and fallen tree branches. Luckily, it turned out to only be a localised intersection.

The end? No, there's more! As I neared the end of the hike, the last descent onto the road was gone; there was nothing but a sheer drop of maybe 20-30 metres in front of me. I later found out there had been a landslide there some months earlier…

To this day, this is one of the best hikes I've ever been on and all the stress and filth just made it so much better. The vegetation in the boggy area was stunning, with trees and moss providing respite and the prettiest lichen and auburn, copper, red, green and white plants colouring the earth. I wish I'd spent more time there.

The resulting smell of the boots is one of the most disgusting things I've ever experienced: an ungodly stench that nailed itself to my insides - it was a smell that you could feel…

Anyway, back to the music. Actually, never mind, the score speaks for itself as it’s a fairly literal transcription of the photograph. The title is not a typo, it's a combination of "myr" (Norwegian for bog) and mirage.

The piece was premiered by Adam Bushell and Bela Emerson in 2025. Special thanks to Adam and Bela for the concert proposal and for making me think outside the box, and of course for the excellent performance.

Also, special thanks to Roger Harmar for the recording.