11 Aug 2025
MODS2.06 - Firebox and The Doctor
For episode six in the series, Modulations are thrilled to present a live recording of a piece named 'When Aurora Danced for Me by 'Firebox and The Doctor'.
About Firebox and The Doctor:
Linda Pope, an environmental scientist with a background of folk and classical singing combined with a passion for traditional step and modern dance together with partner Andy Fierman, an electronics engineer, with a long term fascination with electronic music are exploring a new creative path through electronic music.
Andy’s fascination with electronic sound and music dates back to the 1970s, inspired by artists like Tangerine Dream, Klaus Sculze and Brian Eno. Over decades, he’s built his own analogue synths and embraced digital systems, using various platforms such as Hybrid Systems Music 500 on a BBC computer through Beast and LMMS on Linux before settling on SunVox on Linux and Android.
Whether it's her ear for weaving a haunting lyric through an ethereal soundscape, setting traditional clog steps to the manipulated sounds of the machinery that inspired them and then freestyling them into an unfamiliar world of electronic processing that transforms them into the music that they were originally danced to or singing a cappella into a process that generates a choir of angels, Linda's enthusiasm to blur the boundaries between the different worlds of music and dance be it folk, classical, modern or electronic, brings a kind of creative iconoclasm.
Together, Linda and Andy fuse traditional vocals and step dance with experimental electronics and processes to create music that bridges genres and eras.
About When Aurora Danced For Me:
Inspired by a rare and breathtaking display of the Northern Lights over Yorkshire in October 2024, When Aurora Danced For Me is a deeply personal piece capturing the awe of that night. Created entirely in SunVox using live and pre-programmed synthesis, including recordings of the artist’s voice, the music evokes the shifting colours and movement of the aurora as it unfolded across the sky.
Performed live under the name "Firebox without The Doctor", the piece exists in two versions: a 14-minute rendition from York EMOM XIX (Nov 2024), and a 20-minute version from Whitby EMOM (May 2025). The swirling, shimmering, and crackling textures reflect both the visual spectacle and the sound of VLF (Very Low Frequency) radio signals often associated with auroral activity.
Dedicated to Linda, Jacky Botterill, and Dave Walker, with a title inspired by a comment by Rebecca Denniff, this is a sonic tribute to wonder, nature, and friendship.
Links:
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/firebox-and-the-doctor
Music and video: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Ayhh38vRnaQIlgYxx31ymhaXAUaE2TXO
