Paul Newland: Things That Happen Again

Born in 1966, British composer and musician Paul Newland studied composition at the Royal Northern College of Music, at the Royal Academy of Music, in London, and at Royal Holloway, University of London, receiving his doctorate in 2006. He has taught composition at Guildhall School of Music since 2006 and is currently a Professor of Composition there and is also a Professor at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, Greenwich.

Despite such an illustrious academic career, Newland may be better known for being a founding member of the group [rout], along with fellow composers Paul Whitty and Sam Hayden, and of the free-improvising electric guitar duo exquisite corpse, with David Arrowsmith. Newland has had surprisingly few albums released on which he is credited as a performer or composer, this being his most high-profile release to date. He also has a respectable list of compositions dating back to 1997.

One noticeable feature of that list is Newland's habit of revisiting his past compositions to alter them. So, "Difference is Everywhere" (2017) became "Difference is Everywhere (altered)" (2019) and the version on this album "Difference is Everywhere (altered again)" (2023). Similarly, this album's title Things That Happen Again is taken from an earlier version of "Things that happen again (again)." The titling of these pieces suggests that Newland wishes to draw attention to this habit.

Recorded at Goldsmiths Recording Studio, London, in 2023, the five compositions that comprise this album cover the period from 2009 to 2023 and are mostly performed by members of Apartment House. Notable exceptions are that, on the track "Locus," Another Timbre's proprietor Simon Reynell contributed field recordings and Newland played objects and contributed field recordings. In addition, Newland played the closing track, "Laurence Crane on Whitecross St." alone on piano.

There are several versions of "Locus" online, sounding quite different from one another as it is an open score. Newland has explained that the score invites players to collect or find or prepare and then play one, two or three sounds which they repeat, each separated by silence, the durations of their sounds and silences being chosen by each player from listed dimensions of three minutes. The resulting twelve-minute version here is not remotely anarchic as some may fear but has an appealing logic and structure thanks to all players' good decision-making.

In contrast to "Locus," but recognisable as being by the same composer, the album's longest track at twenty-four minutes, "Difference is everywhere (altered again)" is played beautifully by an Apartment House string quartet. The piece's title contains the quote "difference is everywhere" attributed to Antoine Beuger, founder of the Wandelweiser group. Newland has no obvious links to Wandelweiser but quoting Beuger is a signal that he recognizes a kindred spirit. Some of Newland's music would certainly seem at home with Wandelweiser. Meantime, as the excerpts below indicate, this album deserves to trigger further releases of music by Newland, be they on Another Timbre, Wandelweiser or elsewhere...