An accompanying soundtrack by Preston Field Audio intended for active listening via handheld audio guides at the installation artwork ‘Fountain, 1937’ by Keith Harrison.

"Fountain | 1937 is a meditation on the complex historical relationships between the great ruined country mansion, and the lives of the working-class people of Staffordshire who created the wealth on which it was all founded." Keith Harrison

The composition consists of 7 movements presented as a long-form narrative for the on-site audio guides. While enjoying the soundtrack listeners were encouraged to be aware of external sounds within their immediate environment including nature sounds, construction and other members of the public engaging with the artwork. To experiment by interacting with the audio guide, holding the device near and far from the ears, performing a uniquely individual rendition of the soundtrack whilst moving through the installation.

Musically, the soundtrack draws parallels between prominent themes of labour and luxury. Field recordings are placed in measured dialogue with musical arrangements. Key sound sources include Merry Hill Shopping Centre situated on the former site of the Earl of Dudley's Round Oak Steelworks, Baggeridge Country Park on the site of the Black Country’s last operational coal mine and Lady Dudley's basement plunge pool at Witley Court.

Electronic loops, relentless pulses and recordings of collier’s voices taken from archival footage were played back on bluetooth speakers placed around the once abundant and now derelict rooms of Witley Court. The positioning of the speakers within the various spaces inevitably shaped the stereo field, creating claustrophobic, dissonant new harmonics and forming an exclusive relationship between the music and the building.

Listen for the bells of the baroque Great Witley Parish Church chime against passages of ghostly drones recorded amidst the ruins of the abandoned ballroom.

"Fountain | 1937 is an artist’s reimagining of a coal miners’ pithead baths, located in the grounds of the spectacular Italianate former country house. Witley Court’s 19th century owners had many coalmines and industrial businesses in the Black Country, and even their own railway, delivering coal directly to Witley Court.

Harrison’s artwork invites visitors to imagine the contrasting lives of the owners of Witley Court (who had their own private plunge pool in the basement, and ornate fountains in their garden) with the lives of the miners and steelworkers employed by the Earl of Dudley’s businesses. The artwork includes a set of miners’ lockers made in Sheffield, and tiles supplied by Ketley Brick in Staffordshire, which has been making bricks with locally dug clay at Pensnett, Brierley Hill, since 1805"
English Heritage

All music recorded and produced by Carl Brown

Field Recordings by Carl Brown and Keith Harrison

2-6 Mastered by Tim Crompton
1 & 7 Mastered by Carl Brown

Thanks to Suzanne Heath and the creative team at English Heritage