Immersive Sound: Clutterbrain
Clutterbrain is an immersive spatial audio work exploring my lived experience of ADHD within the context of the climate emergency. The piece responds to the contradiction of seeking calm in nature while feeling overwhelmed by it; where environments that promise restoration instead amplify cognitive noise, ecological grief, and sensory overload. There is business in the silence.
The work combines mouth harp, electronic textures, and field recordings captured across landscapes in the UK, weaving together human breath, rhythm, and environments at risk. Central to the piece are rain-filled firepits used as resonant gongs; improvised, elemental instruments that become sites for meditation and listening. These sounds create moments of stillness within disruption, offering a counterpoint to the mental chaos that often emerges for me during walks in nature.
Clutterbrain was composed following a Screen South masterclass in multichannel and immersive audio, where I developed my approach to writing for spatial sound. The composition uses fragmentation, movement, and spatial contrast to mirror an ADHD perception of the world: heightened, non-linear, and deeply sensitive.
Through immersive sound and future folklore, Clutterbrain invites listeners into a listening space where chaos and calm coexist, asking how we might hold overwhelm, care, and connection to the more-than-human world at the same time.
The work has been selected for the Immersive Audio Network Festival and was showcased at Queercall Festival in 2024.
Spatial Listening & ADHD
Clutterbrain reflects my non-linear, ADHD approach to composition; using fragmentation, spatial contrast and sensory detail to build worlds through sound rather than narrative.
Format: Immersive Spatial Audio Work
Spatial Format: Multichannel / Headphone
Themes: ADHD, Climate Emergency, Ecological Grief, Future Folklore, Sensory Overload
Developed with: Screen South (Multichannel Immersive Masterclass)
Festival: Official Selection — Immersive Audio Network Festival
Materials: Mouth Harp, Electronic Textures, Field Recordings, Rain-Filled Firepits
Role: Composer / Sound Artist / Field Recordist
Approach: Spatial Listening, Non-linear Composition, More-than-Human Sound
Year: 2025
