This ‘extended’ edition’ release of the album NEW WORLDS showcases work with b7 Media, in particular the award-winning audio drama’s The Martian Chronicles, Dan Dare and I, Robot.
HOME
My first solo album. This has been a very long time coming. I decided to go back to the kind of music I used to compose when I was growing up through my teens. The simplicity of writing melodies that were evoked in the moment. Nothing was written down, yet some stayed with me permanently. Little did I know that my younger siblings used to listen to some of these pieces and then play my own music back to me! For this album I imagined being a treasure hunter, going into my childhood past to compose and discover new compositions to bring back with me into the present.
I composed the entire music for this album using only a sampled piano – not a real one. During my childhood I mostly played and composed on electric keyboards. All the piano sounds emerged from what was already programmed into the keyboard based on real piano sounds. One of the tracks on this album called FREE was composed this way when I was in my late teens. So the method I used to record this particular album was to emulate how I used to compose; on a keyboard and this time with a much nicer real piano sound!
This album is a reflection on childhood memories and contemplating what genuinely matters on our life journey. It is dedicated to my brother and sister – who are each on their own journey, guiding one another, like the motion of two highly evolved stars in the night sky…
Available to listen and buy on Bandcamp:
I, ROBOT
Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot
60 years ago, Isaac Asimov imagined the impact AI would have on our world; only now can we appreciate the prophetic accuracy of his predictions. In five moments, we join one woman’s journey as she lives through the rise of robots.
Featuring Hermione Norris, Brendan Coyle, Derek Riddell and Nicholas Briggs
Dramatised for radio by Richard Kurti
Producer/Director Andrew Mark Sewell
A B7 Production for BBC Radio 4
“We’ve always been fans of I, Robot, Asimov’s classic of speculative fiction,” says producer/director, Andrew Mark Sewell. “It’s a timeless commentary on the relationship between humans and technology; an allegory of how we treat others who are not like us. But it’s also a cracking story, with a unique perspective. Given that the original stories were written some 60 years ago it’s a tribute to Asimov’s extraordinary vision that they remain so pertinent and perhaps even more prescient than ever. Our march towards a society ever more reliant on robots and in particular AI technology, makes Asimov’s morality tale of humans and robots seem ever closer. The world he imagined is now upon us.”
The rise of robotics in the 21st century, told through the poignant and mysterious story of enigmatic lawyer, Stevie Byerley.
As a girl, her strongest emotional bond is formed with a robotic childminder rather than her parents. As a young woman, she is involved in a catastrophic car accident, and is only saved by the use of state of the art, and secret technology.
On recovery, Stevie becomes a Legal Psychologist and devotes her life to robotics. She defends robots which have developed dangerous religious delusions; she helps those that have become unstable because their fundamental programming has been tampered with; she sympathises with those who have developed freakish and supernatural powers.
Through all this, Stevie becomes acutely aware of the delicate balance between humans and the artificial intelligences they have created.
Only in the final episode do we learn the truth about Stevie’s agenda, and the way in which she has changed human civilization forever.
Written over 60 years ago, Isaac Asimov’s stories are moving closer to reality every day. The world he imagined is just around the corner …
Dramatised for radio by Richard Kurti.
Episode 1: Robbie
Stevie Byerley is raised by a robotic childminder. The powerful bond she forms with the robot is unbreakable. Their relationship will change the course of her life.
Stevie Byerley Hermione Norris
George Byerley Derek Riddell
Grace Byerle Dianne Weller
Robbie Kelly Burke
Tour Guide Rob Blackwood
Young Stevie Mia Burgess
Other roles played by members of the cast
Episode 2: Reason
After recovering from a devastating car crash, Stevie returns to work as a Legal Psychologist. Her first case is to reason with a robot that has developed a Messiah complex.
Stevie Byerley Hermione Norris
Quinn Brendan Coyle
Powell Doug Devaney
Cutie Nicholas Briggs
Episode 3: Little Lost Robot
A rogue robot goes AWOL on a space station after its rules of behaviour (defined by the three Laws of Robotics) are reprogrammed… with potentially lethal consequences.
Stevie Byerley Hermione Norris
Quinn Brendan Coyle
Major Kallner Kelly Burke
Doctor Black Gary Turner
Psychiatrist Diane Spencer
Nestor Robots Nicholas Briggs
Episode 4: Liar!
Stevie is summoned to a research lab in Siberia, where a robot has developed the ability to read human minds… with far reaching consequences for the emotional lives of everyone.
Stevie Byerley Hermione Norris
Quinn Brendan Coyle
Andrea Ashe Corrinne Wicks
Doctor Lanning Michael Cochrane
SZ-34 Dianne Weller
Episode 5: The Evitable Conflict
Stevie meteoric rise to political power leads to a final showdown with Quinn, and reveals the secret that has shaped her life and changed the course of human civilization.
Stevie Byerley Hermione Norris
Quinn Brendan Coyle
Doctor Derek Riddell
Legal Secretary Diane Spencer
Tour Guide Rob Blackwood
Other roles played by members of the cast
Production
Original Music Imran Ahmad
Studio Manager Wilfredo Acosta
Sound Design Alistair Lock
Editorial Consultant Bev Doyle
Script Editor Colin Brake
Development Producer Patrick Chapman
Producer/Director Andrew Mark Sewell
A B7 Production for BBC Radio 4
DAN DARE
The music for Dan Dare was aimed to be epic in scale from the beginning due the epic nature of the adventures of Dan Dare and his spacefaring friends Peabody and Digby. Their adventures take them all over the unexplored solar system where they encounter the unexpected and are never too from life threatening danger.
The music is orchestral in nature with distinct themes created for the different characters, places and situations.
OFFENSIVE
From Jon Ford, the co Writer and Director of the Dead and The Dead 2. Retired Bernard and Helen Martin inherit a house in rural France where Bernard’s father liberated locals from Nazis during World War II in a raging killing spree. But this peaceful couple quickly become the target of a cruel gang of street kids. Plugged into their devices, devoid of empathy they are a new breed of technological psychopath. Soon Bernard and Helen’s lives become a living hell as they are harassed, tormented and pushed beyond breaking point. Right or wrong no longer matters, survival is everything. Can Bernard live up to his father’s legend? It’s the old generation vs. the new.