Thunderclap Murphy plays live, wordless music for libraries. From a table of instruments, he loops everything from flute to synth into a slow soundtrack that runs under the reading. The volume matches a soft conversation, and every reader hears it at the same level wherever they sit.
Readers at Wexford Town Library asked, most of all, for it to happen again. You can hear a full performance before you book.
The Ambient Book Club
The Ambient Book Club is a communal silent reading event with atmospheric live music. Readers bring a book or take one from the shelves, settle in, and read together while the music builds and fades around them.
The event lasts two hours, and you choose when it runs.
Thunderclap Murphy brings his own sound and lighting, and a crew of three who set up, look after readers during the event and pack away. Your library provides the space, a wall socket and one member of staff.
You get a reply within the week with a plan and a fee.
How ambient music works in a library
Ambient music in a library surrounds readers in a bath of sound. The books are on the shelves, the light is good, and everybody there came in to read. Music helps people sit together in the quiet.
The sound covers small noises people are afraid of making. A cough, a chair or a trip to the kettle blends in.
Lyrics pull attention toward the performer, so the set is wordless and readers stay in their books.
Relaxing, enjoyable, interesting mix. I was pleased that we couldn’t use our phones — are constantly distracted by it!
Tina, Wexford
Reading nights in other libraries
- Seattle’s Central Library ran a free Saturday series of live ambient music through 2025, played while people read and moved through the building.
- Harvard’s Countway Library runs silent reading nights with a live pianist, a quiet floor and free hot drinks.
- The National Library of Latvia took its silent reading up into the roof space above Riga and staged the whole evening as an event.
- Brooklyn Public Library’s Off the Record puts a live band and a reading hour on the same bill.
Readers at Wexford Town Library
Wexford Town Library ran it on Thursday 30 July 2026. Reader feedback:
Perfectly — in the way that I like to read in silence but the music made me more immersed in my book, like in a bubble, like I was nowhere else, and fully present.
Sara, Wexford
This is a wonderful event idea! No commitment to a book club, easy to drop in.
Katie, Castlebridge
Great, would really recommend. A sense of community.
Ciarán, Wexford
The afternoon is written up in full on the Wexford event report.
The setup was really lovely, with the ambient lighting and staging transforming our events space into a very welcoming and comfortable space.
Heather Law, Executive Librarian, Wexford Town Library
Booking a date at your branch
Send a date and the space you have in mind.
You get a reply within the week with a plan and a fee.