Gerald O'Connell

[check out Filonovia - 1998]
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During the early and mid seventies I worked on the startup of the Virgin label, and also met most of the leading figures in German electronic/rock music. People like Klaus Schulze, Amon Duul II, The Can, Manuel Gottsching, Edgar Froese and so on. Their music was obviously years ahead of its time and I was quite inspired by it.

By the end of the seventies I was playing in bands myself, but due to a lack of resources it was impossible for me to do the kind of music that was in my head. I built my own studio and made a few records - now highly obscure - as Lives Of Angels. By 1989 I was so disheartened by the process of trying to make a living out of music that I gave up on it altogether. I started drawing and painting: http://www.gacoc.demon.co.uk

Art and computers came together for me from 1996 onwards and I became immersed in the online/digital world. I still had a lot of music in my head, but didn't give much thought to actually doing anything about it.

Early in 2000 I remarked, in an offhand way, to a friend that I wished there was an equivalent to Photoshop for the digital manipulation of sound. He gave me some SoundForge software and that was all that was needed in order to re-awaken my active interest in music. With just a couple of thousand poundsworth of equipment (most of it the cost of a PC which I already had, of course) it was now possible to have a setup that might have cost a half million twenty years previously.

I came up with the b®and name The Chilling Fields (it seemed to evoke the character of what I was doing) and went to work.

All of my music is made on or in the computer, using electric/electronic instruments and sampled sound as the raw material. Then starts a long process of manipulation, processing, layering, joining together and taking apart. Eventually I get to where the sound in my imagination is coming out of the speakers and I know a piece is ready.

The digital sound manipulation process is an intriguing one, and it has enabled me to express ideas that I thought I would never be able to share. At the heart of it all is the computer - really the only 'instrument' as such that I am using. Everything else is simply raw material, a medium for the computer and the processing software to get traction from.

The music itself is a product of pure imagination, although I list influences on my website at: http://www.wonderport.com/TCF/index.htm where you can hear a range of things I have released on Disparate, Works in Progress and also some guitar music from my archives.

I have categorized the music as 'Ambient' because I am often trying to use sound to create a whole new atmosphere and environment. I doubt that what I am doing will ever have much in the way of broad or popular appeal, but I think it does provide an excellent example of the way in which digital processes and technology can enable the expression of an artistic vision that is quite organic in form.
If just a few people are able to enjoy the musical ideas that I am now able to express and share, then I will be very happy!