Formed in 2021. At its essence Then She Reaches The Gun is sound collage, experimentation and the desire to merge and defy genres. Ward invites musicians, sound artists, poets and the general community to send him files to be used, abused and showcased ‘as suggested by the work’. They are not always ‘musical’ but found sounds, field recordings, spoken word, engine noises and drunken rants. Animals participate a lot too. The raw material is arranged without prior concept, one phrase asks for the next in an alchemical and intuitive process that will most often feature dozens of tracks weaving in and out of each other, colliding, harmonising, arguing and laughing along the way.
Both the aesthetic and the compositional methods use what Frank Zappa called Xenochrony - the mixing together of separately recorded and rhythmically opposing musical phrases to create polyrhythmic and polytempi compositions. Complex harmony and texture is also created in this way with seemingly at odd timbres and tones nestled together to create original sound beds and chord sequences. Then She Reaches for the Gun features fragmented story telling with the human voice (in many languages) appearing unannounced throughout the tracks offering up snippets of thoughts, conversations, jokes and existential angst. The absurdity of humanities desperate claim to have any real understanding of its place in the universe is revealed through the recorded follies and genuine emotions of the participants in these works. The project is a celebration of experimentation, chance, diversity and community. It pays homage to all musical tastes and genres whilst maintaining a sense of humour and irreverence that is needed to stay sane in the climate of early 21st Century contemporary culture.
Then She Reaches For The Gun
NEW ALBUM
I Am Never Freer Than When I Am With You
Jan 2025
Then She Reaches for the Gun was formed in 2021 by Mat Ward as a vehicle to bring together and expand upon some of his disparate musical collaborative projects. At its essence is sound collage, experimentation and the desire to merge and defy genres. Ward invites musicians, sound artists, poets and anyone interested to send him files to be used, abused and showcased ‘as suggested by the work’. They are not always musical but found sounds, field recordings, spoken word, engine noises and drunken rants. Animals participate a lot too! The raw material is arranged without prior concept, one phrase asks for the next in an alchemical and intuitive process that will most often feature dozens of tracks weaving in and out of each other, colliding, harmonising, arguing and laughing along the way.
Both the aesthetic and the compositional methods use what Frank Zappa called Xenochrony - the mixing together of separately recorded and rhythmically opposing musical phrases to create polyrhythmic and polytempi compositions. Complex harmony and texture is created with seemingly at odds timbres and tones nestled together to create original sound beds and chord sequences. The work also features fragmented story telling with the human voice (in many languages) appearing unannounced throughout the tracks offering up snippets of thoughts, conversations, jokes and existential angst. The absurdity of humanities desperate claim to have any real understanding of its place in the universe is revealed through the recorded follies and genuine emotions of the participants in these works. The project is a celebration of experimentation, chance, diversity and community. It pays homage to all musical tastes and genres whilst maintaining a sense of humour and irreverence that is needed to stay sane in the climate of early 21st Century contemporary culture.
A new record by the 50 strong International arts collective : )
I Am Never Freer Than When I Am With You features The following artists
Humans:
Adam Meredith - Ford XD with XF front mods/Voice
Ambient Annie - Electronica/Field Recording/Voice
Andrew Harper - Field Recordings
Angostura Elwar - 2 x Behringer CRAVE analog synths/Yamaha P200 electronic piano
Antonella Eye Porcelluzzi - Text/Voice
Ariad Music - Clarinet/Percussion/Piano
Axel Weiß - Electric Guitar/Robot Voices
Banalytic - experimental Electronics
Belial Pelgrim - Digital Strings/Electronica
Brendan Corey Benson - Electric Guitar
Carolyn Wigston - Voice
Chicago Word Brigade - Electronica
Dan Hewins - Bass Guitar
Dane Renshaw - Drums/Voice
Dani Kirby - Keyboard/Piano/Voice
Dylan Banks - Intonarumori/Voice
Frank Wilke - French Horn/Trombone/Voice
Garbage Truck Disco - Drum programming/Electric Guitar/Joyous Pop Punk
Glenn Ward - Electric Guitar/Skyhooks
Hakan - Moog Voyager XL
Hverheij- Drums/Electric Guitar/Synth
Johnny Python- Bass Guitar/Drum Programming/Electric Guitar/Text/Voice
JZsuperstar - Electric Guitar/Field Recordings/Keyboards
Lady ElectroTrek - Organ
Libby Laksmi - Jazzy Loops/Synth Bass
Loop(c)y - Electric Guitar
Malo Bernard-O’Meara - Drums
Maxx Black - Guitar/Ukulele
Minimal Drone Girl - Cat Wrangling/Field Recordings
Oberlin - Eurorack/Piano
Paolo D’Emilio - Electronica
Paul Miller - Electronic Percussion/Keyboards/Phat Electro Bass
Phil Bywater - Saxophones/Voice
Raul Mainer - DAW Programming/Heavy Metal
Robert Jefferson - Akai Rhythm wolf/GakkenSX-150 ll/Korg Kaosilator/Percussion
Rosin Dust - Violin/Field Recordings
Sarah Megahertz - Speedway Noise
Scratch Kelly - Beats/Electronica
Stan Magendanz - Electronica
Ten Atmospheres - Field Recordings/Synths
Texmex Shaman - Electric Guitar
The Windscale Blues Experiment - Clarinet/Flute/Saxophones
Timothy Korstad - Demons/Electronica
Thomas Bergheim - Bass Guitar/Electric Guitar
Tobias Schmitt - Electronica/Processed Organ/Text
Tuonela - Demons/Electronica
Vartch - Drones/Things/Trousers (not T-shirts)/Voice
Widar’s Spiritual Front - Electronica/Ms Pacman
W:I:L-o’ the-wisp - Bass Guitar/Electric Guitar/Electronica
Wivresse - Electronica/Voice
Zanshin - Acoustic and Processed Drums
Mat Ward - Arrangements/Bass Guitar/Double Bass/Field Recordings/Intonarumori/Marimba/Noise/Percussion/Piano\
Dogs: Boogie, Brophy,Buddy, Hancho, Jack, Momo, Neska, Poldo, Senna, Shyamsundara, Star
Oily (cat)
And many cows from the countryside of Milis, Sardinia
Cooking Hard Boiled Eggs in a Cheap Motel in Adelaide
Each Gun album closes with an extended track that contains some sounds from every single members of the collective. For the 2025 release we took the concept further and remixed/extended/warped the final track into a 4 part suite…..
Then She Reaches For The Gun
DEBUT ALBUM
The Vociferous Mapping Of Your Unlikely Future
Released Oct 2022
Then She Reaches for the Gun was formed in 2021 by Mat Ward as a vehicle to bring together and expand upon some of his disparate musical collaborative projects. At its essence is sound collage, experimentation and the desire to merge and defy genres. Ward invites musicians, sound artists, poets and the general community to send him files to be used, abused and showcased ‘as suggested by the work’. They are not always ‘musical’ but found sounds, field recordings, spoken word, drunken rants and quite often the family dog! The raw material is arranged without prior concept, one phrase asks for the next in an alchemical and intuitive process that will most often feature dozens of tracks weaving in and out of each other, colliding, harmonising, arguing and laughing along the way.
Both the aesthetic and the compositional methods extensively use what Frank Zappa called Xenocrony - the mixing together of separately recorded and rhythmically opposing musical phrases to create polyrhythmic and polytempi compositions. Complex harmony and texture is also created in this way with seemingly at odd timbres and tones nestled together to create original sound beds and chord sequences. Then She Reaches for the Gun features fragmented story telling with the human voice (in many languages) appearing unannounced throughout the tracks offering up snippets of thoughts, conversations, jokes and existential angst. The absurdity of humanities desperate claim to have any real understanding of its place in the universe is revealed through the recorded follies and genuine emotions of the participants in these works. The project is a celebration of experimentation, chance, diversity and community. It pays homage to all musical tastes and genres whilst maintaining a sense of humour and irreverence that is needed to stay sane in the climate of early 21st Century contemporary culture.
The First Few Gun Tracks 2021