A calm, welcoming soundtrack for a reading public, played live in the room.
What it is
Thunderclap Murphy builds a long, slow ambient soundtrack live, layered from a wide range of instruments and shaped by the room. This is not background music. It is a live, intentional performance.
How it works
Each piece begins with a single instrument, looping and sparse. More instruments join as it plays, each looping at its own length so they drift in and out of step. It builds into something dense and warm, then thins back to silence. One piece runs about half an hour, and each resolves into silence before the next begins, so there are natural pauses to move or step out.
It’s all played and recorded live in the room. There’s something to watch being made, if you want to. It’s a real performance captured as it happens, not a playlist.
It needs a room that can be quiet. That’s why it suits galleries, libraries and listening events rather than busy receptions or dining rooms.
Typical placements
Late openings, culture nights, reading events and festival days, in the main room or a quiet reading space.
Why it suits libraries
It gives a library a calm, well-loved event that suits the room and the reader. It welcomes all ages, needs little more than a quiet space, and leaves people settled rather than wound up.
Sound comes from every corner, and the lighting can lift and warm the room. A plain space on a winter evening becomes something else for a couple of hours.
Ambient Reading Club
A whole room reading the same book together, to a live ambient soundtrack made for the space. Read about the Ambient Reading Club.