Graham Bowers profile picture

Graham Bowers

Graham Bowers

About Me

Graham Bowers approach to musical composition developed out of his life long fascination with associative listening (the association of sound related to life experiences) and evolved into a genre of music which he describes as "Sound Theatre".
After many years of writing sound scores for contemporary dance, mime and experimental theatre performances, his debut album, "Of Mary's Blood" was released on the Red Wharf label.

The first in a trilogy, "Of Mary's Blood" combined classical, progressive and experimental music. Produced and recorded with Peter B Gallagher, with musical contributions from Mark J Porter, it received critical acclaim from the international music press (The Wire, Audion, Mouvement-Nouveau) as did all of his subsequent releases.
It was followed by "Transgression", and the trilogy finished with "Eternal Ghosts", featuring musical contributions from Tim Franks, Peter B Gallagher, Mark J Porter, Jim Keddie, and William Henshall.

After an absence due to a serious accident, Graham Bowers wrote and recorded several sound scores for fine art animation films, in collaboration with film-maker Clive Walley; these included an MTV ident and a series of Short Shorts for the British television channel S4C.
He has also produced two short experimental films both of which have been shown at international film festivals.

Sculpting has resulted in private and public commissions (St. Davids Hall, the national concert theatre of Wales, The Space at Dundee) and the creation and realisation of animatronic characters for a television series in collaboration with the writer and creator of The Bradshaws, Buzz Hawkins.
Bowers finally returned to his own full length conceptual compositions of "Sound Theatre" with "Pilgrim".

The musical works have been played and written about extensively in recent years, receiving extended half-hour and two-hour air-play features on national and regional radio stations in the UK, Holland, Germany, Australia and the USA.

Sale of existing stock of original CDs by Graham Bowers at 'give away price' of £3.00 plus p&p due to digital re-master, re-pressing and pending re-issue of: Of Mary's Blood Transgression Eternal Ghosts and Pilgrim. Please visit the Shop at Red Wharf

Visit Red Wharf ~ Music ~ Artwork ~ Sculpture ~ Video & Films

and/or

Red Wharf at MySpace

Downloads of Albums and Tracks at:

eMusic

Rhapsody

Passalong

'Y' Music

iTunes

Napster

Virgin Digital

Background image: 'Chaos' ~ one of a series of paintings by Clive Walley

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 7/8/2006
Band Website: red-wharf.com
Band Members: Peter B Gallagher, Mark J Porter, William Henshall, Jim Keddie, Tim Franks.
Influences: Associative listening (the association of sound related to life experiences)
Sounds Like: I really don't know ... reviewers have mentioned the following, which might give a clue to those that care about such things, and no doubt some will agree and some will disagree with the comparisons:
Nurse With Wound, AMM, Morphogenesis, Iannis Xenakis, Edgard Varèse, Lustmord, Boris Murashkin, John Ireland, John Everall, Dumitrescu

Audio Drudge. (USA ~ Jason Mantis ...a dazzling palette of sounds that combust and converge likebroad brush strokes from a thousand blended colours.

Tans der Rosen. (Belgium) ~ Qa’Taari. ...Bowers breaks with all that is academic and conventional…..a composition of great intrinsic value and extraordinarybeauty.

e/i. (USA) ~ Darren Bergstein ...All spiritualized essence and pagan ritual aside, thislong, single track disc is a well-crafted work ofelectronically-realized, Wagnerian intensity.

Eskhatos. (USA) ~ Ares Solis. ...Bowers controls and contorts his medium while using thelistener’s own insecurities as instruments in this epicoeuvre.

EB. (Germany) ~ Yvonne Brogi. ...like a radical work of modern literature, Bowers connectsavant-garde, new music, ambient, in an impressive montage ofacoustic snapshots.

Stride. (UK) ~ Norman Jope. ...Bowers has come up with something fresh and listenable…..The complexity of this composition defeats a verbalparaphrase….

Audion. (UK) ~ Alan Freeman ...Extraordinary, powerful and strange music this….. but morethan that, this is an unfocused and compelling work.

Deep Listenings. (Italy) ~ Gianluigi Gasparetti ...this is a powerful work…. This innovative music cannot becompartmentalised, a fascinating experimental composition; infact a classic.

Transgression:
The Wire. (UK) ~ John Everall ...In constructing his spellbinding music, Bowers utilisesconventional instrumentation in a wonderfully unconventionalway……something very special and undeniably magical.

Avant. (UK) ~ Richard Cochrane ...Surrealism is indeed, Bowers' modus operandi… Transgressionis a work which repays close listening…

Fourth Dimension. (UK) ~ Richo ...there's an energy behind Bowers' music that, succeeds insucking the life out of the many genres responsible forit.

Quick Edge Music. (UK) ~ Mark Porter ...the different elements come to the fore with varyingdegrees of intensity, thereby leading to a multitude of listeningexperiences.

Eternal Ghosts:
Audion. (UK) ~ Alan Freeman ...challenging it is, but it amounts to rock aesthetics laidagainst dissonance, resulting in an abstract musical/sonic pieceof art.

Quick Edge Music. (UK) ~ John Rafferty ...This really is powerful…thought provoking…material whichwarrants careful study...set aside an hour and let Bowers workhis magic on you.

The Wire. (UK) ~ Julian Cowley ...it is the persistence of this work, its monolithicaspect…that makes it effective…as evocations of the uncanny…ithas unquestionable power.

Pilgrim:
Avant. (UK) ~ John Rafferty ...I would urge anyone to lay their hands on a copy of thisCD… an experience not to be missed.

The Wire. (UK) ~ Julian Cowley ...each new recording confirms the distinctiveness of Bowers’musical vision… qualities that make Pilgrim such a pleasurablyuncanny experience.

Audion. (UK) ~ Alan Freeman ...Another conceptual opus…I won’t go into Graham’s enigmaticideas…on this being a prelude to…‘Pilgrim’s Progress’…this isreally his free-jazz album.


Record Label: Red Wharf
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

Pilgrim ~ Tokafi review courtesy of Fred M Wheeler

A review of the album 'Pilgrim' by Graham Bowers written by Fred M Wheeler has been published by the magazine Tokafi ... some readers may find it of interest. http://www.tokafi.com/newsitems/cd-f...
Posted by Graham Bowers on Mon, 24 Sep 2007 09:15:00 PST

Tokafi ~ a further 15 questions

Interview with Graham BowersMore than a year has passed since we last spoke to Graham Bowers and on the face ofit, not too much has changed. At least on the album front, "Pilgrim" from 2005 remainshis...
Posted by Graham Bowers on Tue, 14 Aug 2007 07:03:00 PST

Tokafi Interview

Tokafi Discover your music 15 Questions to Graham Bowers He's not a clasically trained musician, he dislikes overanalyzing his music, he doesn't consider himself to be a part of the music scene and e...
Posted by Graham Bowers on Tue, 23 Jan 2007 09:30:00 PST

Red Wharf

Red Wharf, the label set up by composer and artist Graham Bowers has now released the music of composers William Henshall and Mel ~ Dr. Ian D Mellish.   Dark Opus (dancing with demons) is William...
Posted by Graham Bowers on Wed, 27 Dec 2006 12:42:00 PST