Memory and Motion is a longform work from the Brighton-based ambient artist Ian Hawgood. Originally stemming from a long and memorable summer eleven years ago, Memory and Motion contains the scent of a season, the year being 2010, and a personal milestone in Ian’s life. In August of that year, Ian performed alongside his wife at the Immersound event at The Others, London. They had wed earlier in the summer, and they had just arrived in the UK, returning from an Indonesian honeymoon to celebrate with friends and family before travelling back home to Japan. The longform piece, which clocks in just shy of twenty-eight minutes, was created in preparation for the set and recorded while the other artists were sound-checking.
Unintentionally or not, the music of Memory and Motion has morphed into something else: music to recall a specific, treasured moment in someone’s life, a single memory forever captured and documented through its music. Like a photograph, it can be savoured and returned to throughout the years, and it sounds as fresh as it did on day one.
As indicated in the title, two parts make up the music. Memory is mixed in with the blurred motion of travel, and the fatigue of jet lag is imbued with animated celebrations. Although memory is prone to erosion, with some recollections turning into inaccuracies, embellishments, or becoming stuck in a cloud of fatigue to rival a red-eye flight, the ambient music is clear in its minimalistic form. Composed of gongs and slim ambient waveforms, Ian’s music produces calm and introspective tones while also containing a fizzle of excitement and the recollection of better days.