Program Note:

Listeners of the radio Shipping Forecast have said that it casts a calming presence over the airwaves. I have long been interested in the rhythm and cadence of the forecast itself, but also the public's positive reaction to it, even though it communicates specialist maritime information. I have been drawn to the music of the phrases underlying the geographical place names and numerical coordinates; phrases such as 'fair', 'poor, becoming moderate', 'occasionally good', 'veering off course'. Taken out of their nautical context, they possess their own poetic rhetoric. For this piece, I re-approached the text of the radio Shipping Forecast to explore themes of loneliness and isolation. Using a text that originated from analogue radio, a once crucial and communal medium, made me think about the media of the present, particularly social media, and the power it has to simultaneously foster community and exacerbate loneliness. Ultimately my objective for the piece was to write a lullaby for adulthood, using the transformed shipping forecast text to explore memory, grief, joy, and loneliness, amongst hazy recollections of old media formats and half-remembered melodies.