Jo Thomas - Prix Ars Electronica - 2012- detail

Jo Thomas (born 1972) is a composer, sound artist, producer, and performer of

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

based in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. She works primarily with electronic sound, with a focus on fine detail and abstraction combining technological, biological and emotive thematic elements. Her work utilises a wide range of sound sources including

field recording Field recording is the production of audio recordings outside recording studios, and the term applies to recordings of both natural and human-produced sounds. It can also include the recording of electromagnetic fields or vibrations using diff ...

s, voice,

glitch A glitch is a short-lived technical fault, such as a transient one that corrects itself, making it difficult to troubleshoot. The term is particularly common in the computing and electronics industries, in circuit bending, as well as among pl ...

, and synthesised sounds from various sources, including her own self-built instruments. She has released on record labels including Entr'acte,

NMC NMC may refer to: Education Institutions * National Music Conservatory, Amman, Jordan * Nehru Memorial College, Sullia, Sullia, Karnataka, India * New Method College, a defunct secondary school in Hong Kong * Northern Marianas College, US Maria ...

and Holiday Records. Her work has been performed internationally, working with organisations in Italy, France, California, Brussels, Switzerland and Australia. Thomas has performed alongside artists including Will Dutta, Lara Jones, Charles Hayward,

Maria Chavez Maria Chavez is an improviser, curator and sound artist born 1980 in Lima, Peru. Her family moved to Texas when she was two years old. The following year doctors found and released liquid in her ears alleviating what had been a serious impediment t ...

, Lee Gamble,

Phill Niblock Phillip Earl Niblock (October 2, 1933 – January 8, 2024) was an American composer, filmmaker, and videographer. In 1985, he was appointed director of Experimental Intermedia,Alan Licht, ''Common Tones: Selected Interviews with Artists and Music ...

and

Squarepusher Thomas Russell Jenkinson (born 17 January 1975), known professionally as Squarepusher, is an English electronic musician, record producer, bassist, multi-instrumentalist and DJ. His music spans several genres including drum and bass, IDM, a ...

. In 2012 she was awarded the

Prix Ars Electronica The Prix Ars Electronica is one of the best known and longest running yearly prizes in the field of electronic and interactive art, computer animation, digital culture and music. It has been awarded since 1987 by Ars Electronica (Linz, Austria ...

Golden Nica prize in the category of Digital Musics and Sound for her work ''Crystal Sounds of a Synchrotron''.

Early life and education

Thomas was born in 1972 in

Aberystwyth Aberystwyth (; ) is a University town, university and seaside town and a community (Wales), community in Ceredigion, Wales. It is the largest town in Ceredigion and from Aberaeron, the county's other administrative centre. In 2021, the popula ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. She has a

BMus A Bachelor of Music (BMus; sometimes conferred as Bachelor of Musical Arts) is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of a program of study in music. The degree may be awarded for performance, music ed ...

and

MMus The Master of Music (MM or MMus) is, as an academic title, the first graduate degree in music awarded by universities and conservatories. The MM combines advanced studies in an applied area of specialization (usually performance in singing or i ...

from

Bangor University Bangor University () is a Public university, public Research university, research university in Bangor, Gwynedd, Wales. It was established by Royal charter, Royal Charter in 1885 as the University College of North Wales (UCNW; ), and in 1893 ...

and gained a PhD from City University, London in electro-acoustic composition in 2005.

Career

In 2011 Thomas created the piece ''Crystal Sounds Of A Synchrotron'' using sounds recorded at

Diamond Light Source Diamond Light Source (or Diamond) is the UK's national synchrotron light source science facility located at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus in Oxfordshire. Its purpose is to produce synchrotron light, intense beams of light whose spec ...

, the UK's national

synchrotron light source A synchrotron light source is a source of electromagnetic radiation (EM) usually produced by a storage ring, for scientific and technical purposes. First observed in synchrotrons, synchrotron light is now produced by storage rings and othe ...

facility in

Harwell, Oxfordshire Harwell is a village and civil parish in the Vale of White Horse about west of Didcot, east of Wantage and south of Oxford, England. The parish measures about north – south, and almost east – west at its widest point. In 1923, its area ...

. The work was composed directly from frequencies generated by the

particle accelerator A particle accelerator is a machine that uses electromagnetic fields to propel electric charge, charged particles to very high speeds and energies to contain them in well-defined particle beam, beams. Small accelerators are used for fundamental ...

and also uses

binaural recording Binaural recording is a method of Sound recording and reproduction, recording Sound recording, sound that uses two microphones, arranged with the intent to create a Three-dimensional space, 3D stereo sound sensation for the listener of actuall ...

from locations inside Diamond's experimental hall,

storage ring A storage ring is a type of circular particle accelerator in which a continuous or pulsed particle beam may be kept circulating, typically for many hours. Storage of a particular particle depends upon the mass, momentum, and usually the charge o ...

and

beamline In accelerator physics, a beamline refers to the trajectory of the beam of particles, including the overall construction of the path segment (guide tubes, diagnostic devices) along a specific path of an accelerator facility. This part is either ...

s. She was awarded the 2012

Golden Nica prize in the category of Digital Musics and Sound Art for ''Crystal''. In 2015 Thomas was commissioned to create a large-scale

sound installation Sound art is an artistic activity in which sound is utilized as a primary time-based medium or material. Like many genres of contemporary art, sound art may be interdisciplinary in nature, or be used in hybrid forms. According to Brandon LaBell ...

as part of the 800th anniversary celebrations of

Magna Carta (Medieval Latin for "Great Charter"), sometimes spelled Magna Charta, is a royal charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. First drafted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Cardin ...

. The resulting work ''Agna Rita'' was installed at The Collection museum in

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the 16th president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincoln (na ...

for the Frequency Festival of Digital Culture. The work combines musical and sonic elements and uses the frequency, rhythm and text from Magna Carta, exploring a union of medieval modalities and digital contemporary artefacts. The 2017 documentary film ''Little Tsunamis'' directed by Toby Clarkson features Thomas as one of three

sound art Sound art is an artistic activity in which sound is utilized as a primary Time-based media, time-based Artistic medium, medium or material. Like many genres of contemporary art, sound art may be interdisciplinary in nature, or be used in Cross-genr ...

ists alongside

Chris Watson John Christian Watson (born Johan Cristian Tanck; 9 April 186718 November 1941) was an Australian politician who served as the third prime minister of Australia from April to August 1904. He held office as the inaugural federal leader of the Au ...

and Daniel Wilson. In 2018 Thomas created a new commissioned work for the touring ''Synth Remix'' project (2018). The piece, titled ''Nature's Numbers'', is based on the work of

Daphne Oram Daphne Blake Oram (31 December 1925 – 5 January 2003) was a British composer and electronic musician. She was one of the first British composers to produce electronic sound, and was an early practitioner of ''musique concrète'' in the UK. As ...

and

Delia Derbyshire Delia Ann Derbyshire (5 May 1937 – 3 July 2001) was an English musician and composer of electronic music. She carried out notable work with the BBC Radiophonic Workshop during the 1960s, including her electronic arrangement of the theme ...

at the

BBC Radiophonic Workshop The BBC Radiophonic Workshop was one of the sound effects units of the BBC, created in 1958 to produce Incidental music, incidental sounds and new music for radio and, later, television. The unit is known for its experimental and pioneering ...

. The project made use of the 2016 realisation of Oram's Mini-Oramics machine, created by Tom Richards, with Thomas as one of the composers chosen to pilot its use. In 2020 Thomas was commissioned to create a new musical work ''In A Still Place'' to be played on sculptural sound installation ''Speaking Tubes'' by IOU Theatre, Halifax. The piece explores different states of stillness whilst acknowledging sometimes rapid change. In 2007 she was commissioned by Ports of Call to compose an audio trail inspired by the history of

Silvertown Silvertown is a district of West Ham in the London Borough of Newham, in east London, England. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, Thames and was historically part of the parishes of West Ham and East Ham, Becontree Hundred, hund ...

, London. She runs a soundwalking project in North London with her own label Soft Apple.

Album Discography

* 2010 ''Alpha'' (Entr'acte) * 2012 ''Nature of Habit'' (Entr'acte) * 2013 ''Mermaids'' (Holiday Records) * 2015 ''Sunshine Over Nimbus'' (Ptyx) * 2015 ''Agna Rita'' (Occupied Silence) * 2017 ''Random Feathers'' (Soft Apple) * 2017 ''Agna Rita'' (Soft Apple)

References

External links

Jo Thomas at the British Music Collection

Jo Thomas official webpage

Jo Thomas at Bandcamp
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Jo Alumni of Bangor University Alumni of City, University of London British sound artists Welsh women in electronic music Musicians from Aberystwyth Living people Electroacoustic music composers British women composers 21st-century British composers 1972 births