Nordoff & Robbins x Antony Szmierek

This was a special project.

Working with a spoken word artist is something that I've been looking to do more of, supporting a flow of words rather than imposing a structure, allowing rhythm, cadence and tone to dictate the parameters and I'll meet them halfway, preserving the pauses, elasticity and ramps up and down that characterise pure emotion. Antony is a supreme talent, great character and fabulous energy, it was really fun to work with him.

Music is at its best when personality shines through and precision makes impactful moments really pop.

So the methodology for this project was a little unusual. Antony started with the words that we then workshopped around in Manchester. Vibing in the studio was really useful to see what might spark. Rather than trying to come up with specific musical ideas it was more about finding a reading we all liked and exploring different combinations, allowing us to bounce off each other. Let's take the pressure away and just play.

Then I took the recordings away and wrote the track, ending up with something quite different to the initial improvised session. But the process had allowed me to find his natural bpm, register and tone.

As I started to build the track, Dan started to build the film...and so the whole piece coalesced together, pulling out the subtleties of each other's work as we went. Different elements would come to the fore when we tried different combinations. And then Antony rehearsed to the finished piece.

In the end we had something that he could comfortably perform on stage at the Albert Hall in Manchester in front of a couple of thousand people from the music industry and the public who were also invited. As it had aimed to fit his performing style and what the charity wanted to say from the beginning, it all flowed quite easily meaning he could spend more time in the moment with the audience.

Being already involved with the Charity's work made Antony an even better choice to be their ambassador, so the piece and its message have an opportunity to authentically reach across platforms and audiences in new and deeper ways.

The work Nordoff & Robbins do is amazing, I encourage you to check them out!