DIGGING DEEPER
ALEXANDRA HAMILTON-AYRES
ON DEBUT ALBUM 2 YEARS STRANGER...
I am a film composer and classical electronic artist based in Bristol. Having written music for theatre, circus, dance, opera and film, I love telling stories through music and visuals. My debut album 2 Years Stranger was written as a way of processing a two-year journey and rocky mental states. In 2017, like many of us in 2020, I found myself in limbo when my dad had fallen ill with ARDS and respiratory failure—as a result, he was induced into a coma. I was alone at my parents’ house, with dad suspended in a state between life and death, surrounded by his things. As a distraction from the rollercoaster of emotions, I started making recordings on my childhood piano. I have a really vivid memory of having what felt like my last phone call with Words Alexandra Hamilton-Ayres
dad and spent a lot of time at the piano after that in my own world. These recordings became the beginnings of my debut album, 2 Years Stranger. When listening back to the recordings, I found that they told the story of those two years. Some I left really raw and some I reworked and recorded again finding new textures using the Philicorda, accordion, clarinet and other found sounds. I wanted to capture the raw intensity of the clips still and Sink Into Another World was the first track I came up with and really defined the sound of the album–I think it also has subconscious filmic references. I guess the ultimate message is one of hope, human connectivity and art carrying us through challenging times, something we all need right now and it’s even printed on the record’s cover in the form of Dad’s still-life portrait of his SABR treatment mask. 17
I’m really close to my parents, especially creatively and it was a crazy minefield to go through with them both, it still seems like a bad dream and if dad hadn’t kept his mask, I wouldn’t have believed it ever happened. I never imagined this could be so valid to others and I have been precious about releasing it, as it feels like my heart is on a plate! Over a coffee meeting with my publisher we chose the album name from a list hand-scrawled in my diary and 2 Years Stranger resulted from misreading my handwriting, but it summed up the story so perfectly. ‘2 Years Stranger’ is out on November 20th and is available to pre-order on ecomix limited edition 12” vinyl on Alexandra’s bandcamp - ah-a.bandcamp. com with only 150 copies available. Follow Alexandra @ahamiltonayres Photography by Mich Rose
