“Somewhere In The Crowd There's You, 2020”, 2020
Freya Dooley
Somewhere In The Crowd There’s You
Frosted clear 12” vinyl with full colour sleeve and insert
Edition of 250
Pay What You Can (Plus postage) – all sales from the first 50 records will be donated to The Black Trans Foundation
–
“When it came to performing, Agnetha liked the writing, the singing and the melodies, but she hated the outfits and the dancing.
‘All I do is eat and sleep and sing, wishing every show was the last show.’ Euphoric disco, synchronised heartbreak…with both couples divorced, being Abba was no fun anymore anyway. As time went on and the band’s popularity grew, Agnetha began to have terrible dreams in which the crowds consumed her. Wrap your arms around me, I won’t let you go. A long silence.”
Somewhere in the Crowd There’s You is an immersive soundscape of broken melodies and discordant harmonies. Layers of collected vocals, hooks, choral fragments and field recordings fall in and out of step. Voices compete for attention, drowned out by their own chorus.
The work takes its title from ‘Super Trouper’, the earworm hit by the not-so-harmonious pop-group Abba and a song which has occupied Freya’s mind for a couple of years now. The ‘group’ is a force for belonging- simultaneously claustrophobic and comforting, embracing and alienating- and something Agnetha eventually retreated from entirely, to pursue solitude in the place of expectation. The work explores anxious moments of synchronisation and discord when trying to keep up with your own performance.
Somewhere in the Crowd There’s You is a stereo remix of the multi channel sound installation of Freya’s solo exhibition of the same name at Eastside Projects, 2 March to 27 April 2019.
SIDE A – I was sick and tired of everything (15’)
SIDE B – Suddenly I feel alright (13’)
ISBN 978-1-906753-43 6
2020
Published by Eastside Projects
Design by Freya Dooley
Mix engineering by Freya Dooley and Jon Ruddick
Vocalists: Alice Burrows, Richard Bowers, Roger Graham, Caritas Choir, Cardiff Tuneless Choir, Chapter Singers and Cinzia Mutigli
With thanks to Jon Ruddick, Harry Morgan, Phoebe Davies, Ashley Holmes, Gavin Wade, Ruth Claxton, Sahjan Kooner, Annabel Duggleby, Amelia Hawk, Ania Bas, Adam Phillips, Deborah Bower, Cinzia Mutigli, Rhiannon Lowe and Shaun James
Supported by the Arts Council of Wales
