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Tom Gloyns is a composer and performer who has explored a range of musical styles and approaches throughout his creative life. Piano and guitar are the two instruments that have been the primary means of expression for this journey, although at times there have been explorations of electronic music and orchestral composition.
The first band Tom formed in 1996, Blue Moon Rising, was focused on song writing and performing original material. Performance experiences included regular gigs around local venues and sessions on local radio stations in the New Forest.
A year later, Tom collaboratively established The Sonikitch -a psychedelic/experimental rock outfit that focused on instrumental music. Tom played electric guitar and the band found its niche playing at festivals and free parties. There were a number of gigs at the Highbury Garage in London and BBC local television joined the band to cover the recording of the first album at M Corporation studio in Ringwood. Two recordings emerged from this project: The Fusion of Dreams album and the Crossbreed EP.
There has always been a strand of solo piano and guitar instrumental music in Tom’s compositional work. In addition to this, he has participated in a number of collaborative projects. Over this time, one of Tom’s guitar tracks was used for a film that won an award for best sound track at the national student film awards. In 2001, Tom became composer in residence at the Salisbury Arts Centre collaborating with the resident contemporary dance company Suma Numa. They devised a dance piece called ‘Three Fold’ that blended live music and dance with video projection. This contemporary dance piece toured around the south of England and performed at the Place Theatre in London as part of Resolution -an event that showcases up and coming contemporary dance projects.
Tom moved to Devon in 2004 to study music composition at Dartington College of Arts. He took opportunities to further explore collaboration with contemporary dance during this period. A self-devised module provided an opportunity to create a project that involved studying orchestral composition and time was spent engaging with various orchestras. His academic research at this time focused on the psychological and social aspects of music making.
Since leaving higher education, Tom has continued to collaborate with other musicians. He has also performed solo guitar and piano sets comprising of his own compositions.
Tom collaborated with the Sunreturn ensemble in 2013, exploring composed and improvised material drawing on diverse traditions of music. These included Jazz and contemporary classical influences, in combination with many other styles to create distinctive musical soundscapes.
For the piano, Tom has recently completed a body of work inspired by Dartmoor with the intention to explore the correlation between composition and landscape. Some of this work was developed over the course of his residency at High Cross House, on the Dartington Hall Estate. In conjunction with recording this music, Tom has developed his interests in motion control time lapse photography. This has culminated in the production of a film exploring this relationship between composition and landscape, to accompany his Dartmoor Suite recordings.
More recently, explorations in electronic music have also been developing in collaboration with Alex McDougall (formerly of Sonikitch, now creator of FireFarm). These projects are ongoing, combining both electronic and acoustic instruments with an experimental approach to sound design.
tomgloyns.com 