Sky Larkin have spoken to ClashMusic about how their music intersects with science.
The arts and science are usually seen as polar opposites, fuelled by alternate sides of the brain. However music is unusually reliant on technology, from recording techniques to the instruments themselves.
Speaking to ClashMusic, Sky Larkin singer Katie Harkin explained that despite growing up in a scientific background she only began to appreciate the impact science can have late in life.
“It wasn’t until I studied the physical properties of artist’s materials at Uni that science began to appeal” she explained. “I discovered Earthworks artists like Robert Smithson who worked directly with the land, keeping the scientific processes of nature in mind. His sculpture Spiral Jetty (1970) is a huge coil of rock that juts into a salt lake in Utah, its shape mimicking the whorls of the pink salt crystals that now encrust it.”
Continuing, the singer explained that some of Sky Larkin’s material has been influenced by her studies. “He has been a huge influence on me (I first encountered The Golden Spike in his writings) and I formed Sky Larkin whilst jumped up on the discovery of these creative/scientific intersections.”
Returning with their second album earlier this year, Sky Larkin were inspired by a growing awareness of scientific study. Naming BBC Radiophonic producer Delia Derbyshire as an influence, Katie Harkin then spoke reverentially of an Ancient Greek scholar.
“The world’s first metalhead was Pythagoras. His investigations into the relationship between mass and sound pitch that first identified ‘perfect’ musical intervals were inspired by noting the variation in a blacksmith’s clangs” she explained.
“The title of our new album, ‘Kaleide’ is roughly hewn from the word Kaleidoscope (‘observer of beautiful forms’) and reflects how science, music and art have collided and fused in my life.”
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