FFRWD

FFRWD is a Welsh avant-garde performer who fuses power electronics and found sound through splicing, dicing and heavy processing.

The live set has elements of musique concrète, raw sound creation and spoken word together with a high degree of improvisation, where acoustic, electric and freeform atonal sounds evolve throughout the intense performance to create dark atmospheres.

The word ffrwd is Welsh for ‘stream’ as FFRWD responds to a location with a 'stream of consciousness'. The name also references tape transport i.e. Fast Forward and Rewind, which is a nod to the musique concrète tape manipulators of the 20th century.

The equipment used is a mixture of vintage and modern with a modular synth as the centrepiece. Electric toothbrushes, bells, piezo mics and dictaphones are also essential to make the immersive and subversive soundscapes.

From musique concrète to granular synthesis, FFRWD likes to explore the endless possibilities that old and new technologies have to offer.

LINKTREE

HIGHLIGHTS

Mil Mwy Hudol

Part of ‘Ysbrydnos/Hallowmas’: a two-part AV launch night celebrating the release of 'The Shining Pyramid'. Curated by Dafydd Roberts as part of Sound and Music’s Composer-Curator programme, the Ysbrydnos/Hallowmas live stream is a celebration of the mysteries associated with Halloween, the spectral and Wales’ own Noson Calan Gaeaf. — OCTOBER 2020

Live perfomance of ‘Metal Music’ at Shift Gallery, Cardiff Wales — November 2021

2024

UPCOMING

Bristol, Cardiff, Derby, Stoke-on-Trent, Wrexham TBC

6/03/2024

EMOM — Le Pub, Newport, Wales

1/02/2024

Plugjam — Paradise Garden, Cardiff, Wales

2023

10/2023

NAWR Aber — Bank Vault Aberystwyth, Wales

21/9/2023

EMOM — Dubrek Studios, Derby, England

26/7/2023

EMOM — The Jericho Tavern, Oxford, England

16/6/2023

Sharp Noodle Presents — Exchange, Bristol, England

27/5/2023

Psych & Noise Festival — Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff, Wales

20/05/2023

Only Human — That Beer Place, Chester, England

12/4/2023

We All Play Synths — Dareshack, Bristol, England

9/3/2023

Open Session — Market Hall, Caernarfon, Wales

12/1/2023

1,2,1,2,3 — Shift Gallery, Cardiff, Wales

2022

PAST WORKS

5/08/2022

FFERMWAITH. Performance piece at the National Eisteddfod responding to a piece of poetry by Kitchener Davies. This was accompanied by a site specific dance in a field in Tregaron

30/08/2022

SÔN AM SŴN. Audio installation at the National Eisteddfod, Tregaron, featuring a modular synthesiser and proximity sensors. Three sound workshops were held to explain sound and its physicality.

3-26/06/2022

Contributor for Joanna Ward’s Aldeburgh project at Britten Pears Arts, Snape Maltings Concert Hall, Snape, Suffolk

PAST PERFORMANCES

18/12/2022

Modulate — Cwrw, Caerfyrddin, Wales

12/12/2022

EMOM — Lost Horizon, Bristol, England

6/10/2022

Contributor for Leo Cunningham’s Our Green Spaces

27/08/2022

Hub Festival — The City Arms, Cardiff, Wales

22/07/2022

Brainrave — The Moon, Cardiff, Wales

18/06/2022

Stridente Night #9 featuring Gagarin, Justin Paton and Yellow Ox — All Good Bookshops, London, England

20/04/2022

EMOM — Le Pub, Newport, Wales

8/04/2022

MIDI-Drum Compositions-5 Release Event featuring Jaxson Payne and Harpoon — The Moon, Cardiff, Wales

20/03/2022

Modulate Sunday Session — Cwrw, Carmarthen, Wales

10/03/2022

A Night of Noisy Electronica featuring MXLX, Isn’tses & Linus Fitness-Centre — Le Pub, Newport, Wales

WORK UP TO 2021

WORKS

29/07/2021

Winner in the category for ‘Electronic piece up to five minutes’ at the National Eisteddfod

8/05/2020

Performed ‘S711 Pearlcorder’ a tape recorder piece at the Cul de Sac Festival (online)

5/02/2021

Sound Drawing for Life Drawing with Fra Beecher

26/06/2020

One of 24 artists performing at ‘Sounds for an Empty House’ held at Plas Bodfa. A 24 hour installation that led to an audio response a few months later.

26/05/2022

Featured on Brian and Roger Eno’s Mixing Colours project.

08/2018

PREGETH — Audio installation featuring Welsh sermons given a musique concrète treatment — Y Lle Celf, Eisteddfod Genedlaethol, Cardiff

19-20/10/2013

DIFFICANT — 100” sound collage loop of found sound recorded around Cardiff

PERFORMANCES

29/10/2021

Listen to the Voice of Fire. Included an improvised performance with flautist Ceri Rhys Matthews — Oriel Rhiannon, Tregaron, Wales

27/10/2021

EMOM — Le Pub, Newport, Wales

26/01/2021 + 29/09/2020 + 30/06/2020