It’s Always Ourselves We Find In The Sea is a new release from Martyn Ware, Charles Stooke, and Gabriel Ware, featuring their original soundscape created for the immersive installation of the same name. Produced by Illustrious Company (Martyn Ware and Vince Clarke of Erasure), with environmental and immersive design by Oscar Blustin and Anna Soderblom, the installation invites visitors into a contemplative space: a quiet, peaceful temple to water, within which the soundscape exists.
Listeners enter and explore the space in their own time, letting the sounds wash over them, experiencing the stories and musical motifs as they build and gather, then subside like the tide. It debuted at London’s Saatchi Gallery and can be experienced at The Piece Hall in Halifax from April 4 – May 4, 2025.
The soundscape is a looping experience divided into two parts, each included as a track on the CD/digital release:
Part One – A Call To Water:
This section explores our human relationship with anthropomorphised water. Throughout the history of our species and all across the globe, humankind has petitioned the deities of the sky and the sea for the benediction of rain and for deliverance from natural disasters.
Part Two – The Water Circle:
Water is crucial for all life on Earth to exist and thrive. We witness the storm’s deluge on the land, water cascading in streams, then rivers, and finally to the sea. The beauty and mystery of the oceans culminates in the process of evaporation and the creation of clouds, continuing the eternal cycle.
Martyn Ware was a founding member of The Human League and continued his prolific music career with B.E.F., Heaven 17, and numerous other projects. He founded Illustrious Company with Vince Clarke in 2000 to explore 3D sound technology and immersive sound experiences. Charles Stooke is a musician, artist, and sound designer based in London who is also a co-partner in Illustrious Company. He recently completed work on Foreign Body’s film documenting Amartey Golding’s Bring Me To Heal and also records as Me, Charles. Gabriel Ware (Martyn’s son) is a modern hybrid orchestral composer for soundscapes, film, and theatre, and has worked on a number of acclaimed major soundscape and other media projects.
It’s Always Ourselves We Find In The Sea is out now on Cold Spring and can be purchased here.
