Lisa Busby is a Scottish composer, vocalist and improvisor based in London. Situated across experimental music, performance art, and pop culture, her practice often explores processes of making, and “availablism” and lo-fi intermediality, and sound in/of movement.
Lisa opened with a short summary of the Sound And Music programme- the Uk’s national organisation for new music, and a charity.
For over ten years we have been supporting composers of all ages, inspiring young people, supporting educators, and engaging new music fans and the sector through our online platforms. Their vision is to create a world where new music and sound prospers, transforms lives, challenges expectations and celebrates the work of its creators.
Lisa expressed her interest in ‘Tangled work’: Reading from one of six scripts that she has written for her work, during one of her performance pieces. Lisa talks about often feeling uncomfortable during a live performance saying ‘I always feel like I have something hanging over me’. Further expressing her discomfort, ‘I am really fucking scared of the internet’ she says, when asked about her online discography. As well as feeling uncomfortable during a performance of her work, Lisa projects this feeling onto some of her own pieces. Many would describe some of her music as ‘menacing’ or ‘haunting’ with ‘hypnotic’ visuals to accompany it. This juxtaposition between her own feelings, and some of her own work is what makes her so intriguing.
Lisa mentioned the importance of Intersection in composition. The gaps (work) and bridges (process) is what defines the outcome of the work.
Lisa indulges in various forms of work, including audio-visual experiences, live performance art, and abstract soundscapes. When using dialogue within one of her performances, Lisa opts for Non-linear storytelling, a surefire way of confusing the audience, hoping to provoke the part of human nature in which an understanding of what is happening in front of you is vital.
Lisa works in single takes, taking a light touch with her instruments. These takes are then layered with whatever Lisa feels is needed, whether that be synth work, or naturalistic sound. Opening up on her performance anxiety, Lisa expressed the importance of focus within a live performance ‘It’s all about the moment between the artist and the instrument’, and how this focus on said moment can often distract from the peril of performing live. Mentioning newer artists in the field, Lisa expressed an interest in exploring expanding landscapes musically and sonically, as to further bolster and inspire her work.
Lisa then played the group a few of her pieces, which are documented below, along with a reaction.
-‘You and me nothing’ (maybe): A lighter visual (shadows in the sand with rocks) this time but accompanied by haunting audio. However, they do seem to create a lighter, more euphoric sound, somewhat matching the environment created by the picture. The atmospheric/lighter synths and vocals are interrupted at points by broken, ghostly sounds. With every shift in the audio atmosphere, my perception of what the picture means/stands for changes.
-Another piece: Proposal for a song. A surprisingly neutral visual: half a post-it note and some purple lines to the side. The sounds are briefly melodic, sounding somewhere between a synth lead and Morse code. The vocals that accompany it are soft, yet ultimately haunting and poetic, sounding much like the Swedish artist Bjork.. The sounds then shift to a some-what heavenly synth layers, which last for about 10 seconds before the piece abruptly stops.
-‘With you, I am in a place’: Inspired by the current, restricted performance landscape. 2 Women are sat, side-by-side. It is still. One sighs. Suddenly, a blare of sound comes from in front of the two, shielded behind the camera view. It stops and starts. A video appears behind the two women. Two men stand in a field leaning, and embracing. Almost dancing. The blare is now very low. A moaning/chanting starts from the two women seeming to accompany the video. They also share a few exchanges in between the moaning, however the audio was too distorted. It is overall, unsettling and haunting. The video stops but the chanting continues. Loud blares of sound stop and start, coming from behind the camera. The women stare, dead-eyed, slowly swaying. It is now silent. They both stare to the side briefly then one gets up (end).
After, Lisa took part in a student-led Q&A.
Q&A:
Lisa revealed that she has always sung, whether that be a School or Church choir. In that sense, she has always been a musician, despite not taking professional singing lessons until this year. Other instruments came later, when she decided to pursue a career in Sound Art. Music empowers Lisa, a reason as to why she has always been doing it. Due to the early interest in singing, Lisa always starts with her voice, explaining that that’s how she finds her place. Discussing her process, Lisa writes freely, neither in verse nor in rhyme, revealing that the take which is included in the album is more often than not, improvised. ‘Things happen in more or less 1 or 2 takes’, she states, although she does keep all the takes. wanting the work to feel as live as possible.
Expanding on her process, Lisa expressed an interest in the small sections of things, and her attitude towards non-repetition, expressing that ‘Repetition is power’.
Self awareness is important to Lisa, herself being aware of her own and the general themes within some of her work.
For future projects, Lisa aims to work with less preparation, more just going to the instruments without thought and experimenting with the result. Elaborating on this, Lisa spoke of her time spent in the digital landscape (production), and her disinterest the re-touching of work, finding it tedious, and often ending up with a less desirable, or less finished piece of work than before. Calling this ‘Anti-production’, Lisa never tries to over-layer her work, challenging what musicians and artists are ‘supposed to do’, opting out of a lot of what music usually entails, also expressing a dislike for live vocal effects, unless they are self-imposed, calling it a ‘Refusing of professionalism’.
Lisa’s preparation for projects contains a lot of unconnected prep, often curating and collecting an abundance of things she may find useful.
Getting a bit more personal, Lisa explained that she tries to not draw lines between musical and non-musical sound, expressing the dangers and limits of doing so, and how that can affect what goes into her work. Rarely knowing how her work is perceived, and rarely seeking out perceptions of her work, Lisa speaks again, of her performance anxiety, conveying that she doesn’t find things like this, or gigs easy, and takes no part social media, again saying ‘I am fucking scared of the internet’. Often feeling uncomfortable talking about her work, Lisa perceives such discussions as forcing herself and her work on others although she acknowledges that this is anxiety induced. Lisa finds that the anxiety induced feelings when talking about her work end up seeping into her work itself. Lisa’s work is ‘where I put stuff that is hard’. It’s a place where she takes the personal stuff. Inevitably difficult stuff.