On a chilly January evening in 2024, an excited throng gathered at Natural Endings in Todmorden for the first, official resonance. Once inside, they found the ornate 20th century building – formerly a mail sorting office, now an independent, ethically-run funeral home – was filled with exotic, live music from Indian Bansuri flautist Peter Lee. That was followed by the wizardry of local kora player John Haycock. An ambient crystal light show, courtesy of Jamie House, adorned the walls…
Even for Todmorden, a place renowned for its progressive art and outlandish live events, the resonance experience is mighty impressive.
Adam: “Each one is different. It’s an exploration of the space. For the second resonance, at Hope Baptist Church, we put these contact microphones on the walls, so you could actually hear the energies of the woodwork. We projected the frequency waveform through an oscilloscope onto the wall, 20 foot high, to show that the building was alive.”
By combining light, sound and setting, resonance provides a very special kind of multi-sensory, harmonising experience – one that has already proved exceptionally popular.
Matthew: “We just had this idea. We didn’t know if anyone would get it, but it took off.”
“I had to close the gate and tell people not to come in,” says Adam, reflecting on the first edition.
resonance draws on the ancient past to help create something very new. Adam and Matthew are big on ‘aural architecture’, using the natural, inherent reverberations of the space, along with analogue instrumentation and cymatics (the visualisation of audio frequencies) to create a unique and holistically powerful experience.
For this, the setting is crucial. Churches have provided some of their best environments. The older the building, the better. At most events, they will open up with a short talk about the venue, giving context to the space and enhancing the sense of ceremony.
Matthew: “At Natural Endings, Daniel Weaver wrote this great story. He said ‘think of all the letters that have come through here, the love letters, the telegrams about death and the Second World War, they all pass through this big building with their energy.’ Everyone was spellbound.”
Adam and Matthew have staged around a dozen resonance events to date and each one takes on a whole different flavour. Some have centred around a five-hour drone bath sustained by 12 musicians. Others have been more performance-focused, such as the night at Todmorden Unitarian Church in September featuring American harpist Mary Lattimore.
Eager to share the magic of resonance with the wider world, they’ve also held events at Portico Library in Manchester and, on 11th January of this year, at the MKII Warehouse in Clapton, London. The latter was dubbed the ‘Burning of the Clavie’ in recognition of the ancient midwinter fire ritual, rooted in Norse mythology, that took place on that date. Transporting the magic of the Calder Valley to London was a mammoth task.
Adam: “Even the raw materials, like the wood, the branches that we placed in the venue, we brought it all from up here. Whether it’s the provenance of the music, or of the branches, the spirit incorporated in those things is important. We’re trying to show what’s so amazing about this area.”
Their attention to detail is remarkable. Striving for perfection, they collaborate with a wide range of specialist talent. Alex Macarte of local label Golden Ratio Frequencies, a qualified sound therapy practitioner, advises on frequencies. These are carefully considered so that the healing properties of the evening might reach a different metaphysical level. Jamie House, who does the light shows, skews mainstream digital projection techniques in favour of using crystals and cut-glass to create a refractive journey that is essentially more hands on, more human.
Adam and Matthew are relentlessly meticulous in their creativity, maintaining the highest of standards and that comes, in part, from their professional backgrounds. Adam has worked as a graphic designer for some of the biggest theatre companies in the UK, including the National Theatre and the Old Vic. Matthew has enjoyed a lengthy career composing music for TV and film. He’s a rare hybrid of top-notch creative musician and sound technician rolled into one.
How the two met is an intriguing story in itself and, you might say, one that unveils a deep synchronicity.
A few years ago, Adam suffered a horrific mountain bike crash. While recovering in hospital, it was agreed Matthew could move into a spare room in Adam’s house. It was all co-ordinated through a mutual friend. Adam and Matthew had never met but they started messaging each other and soon hit it off. Their ideas for resonance then gently took shape during Adam’s recovery period at home.
On first impressions, when we meet over lunch, Adam and Matthew wear somewhat differing personalities. Adam is bristling with a vibrant enthusiasm, while Matthew projects a calm intellect. But they share a vision and are united by many passions, not least the Todmorden UFO Society and the wealth of electromagnetic phenomenon that courses through the local landscape.
Adam: “It’s really integral to my experience of being around here.”
Matthew: “There’s a lot of stuff in the area about quartz beds, psychic amplifiers, the natural shape of the valley.”
Adam: “We’re trying to build up our own calendar of events, some of them aligned with astrological events, creating a harmonic resonance frequency over Todmorden as a piece of art. You can harmonise a town, not through TV or media, but through bell-ringing. It was done for centuries throughout Asia until colonisers knocked the bells out of the churches.”
As you might expect, resonance is full of nuance, detail and subtle touches that nod to ethereal, astral worlds. There’s ‘woo-woo’ by the gallon, though you might not always see it. And if you do, you can choose to merely dip a toe or dive right in. There’s no judgment.
Matthew: “In this part of the world, there’s a lot of kindred spirits. There’s a lot of musicians, artists, healing people, wellness people. But you can take as much or as little of the electromagnetic expression as you like. It goes there, if you go there. Some people might come and just sit in the corner, lie down, bring sleeping bags, start praying. Whatever. Go for it. But it’s not just going to a venue, getting a ticket, standing there and getting chucked out. You are part of it.”
And that is, perhaps, the essence of it all. At resonance events you are, indeed, integral to the experience. There is a process of unification, which may manifest in numerous ways – human, metaphysical, celestial. Many resonance participants have enjoyed transformative, spiritual experiences. Great friendships have been forged too. A bunch of participants have even started up a walking group.
“Those are the things I feel happiest about,” says Adam, with a smile. “The friendships.”
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Follow resonance for news of future events.
Image credits: @flossbobbins (Portico library light show)
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