[mp3 .zip archive / 85MB]

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'is' was created from samples of the replica of Charles Babbage's Difference Engine in the Science Museum, London; the chronometers at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, and Enigma machines in Bletchley Park.

At the time I had become fascinated with early machines or devices that were ahead of their time in what they managed to achieve, but were also as much works of art as works of invention. This seems rather lost in our time, as devices are churned out cheaply and efficiently in factories - the home computer may now be available to (nearly) everyone in first world countries, but it would most likely be seen as a waste of time these days to put so much painstaking effort into creating a beautiful machine such as the Difference Engine.

Many thanks to the Science Museum, the Royal Observatory and Bletchley Park for granting permission to sample these "instruments". My thanks also to Neil Dawson who performed the double bass samples that are woven throughout the track.