Drew McDowall (UK, 1961)
Residency period: May-July 2026
Drew McDowall, a Scottish-born composer and sound artist based in New York, is known for his influential role in experimental and electronic music. His practice blends modular synthesis, field recordings, deconstructed samples, and acoustic instrumentation to create immersive, evolving sonic environments.
Emerging from Glasgow’s punk and underground scenes, he became a key member of Coil, contributing to landmark albums such as Time Machines (1998) and Music to Play in the Dark (1999). Since relocating to New York in 1999, he has released acclaimed solo works on Dais Records and collaborated with artists including Kali Malone, Caterina Barbieri, and Puce Mary. Performing widely across the globe, McDowall continues to shape contemporary sound practice at the intersection of music, ritual, and sonic exploration.
During his residency at La Becque, Drew McDowall will create a sound-based work exploring the experience of aging as both a personal and universal transformation. Drawing from his formative years in Paisley, Scotland, he will examine themes of memory, displacement, and the uncanny through the town’s industrial history and post-industrial landscapes. This includes sites once defined by environmental degradation, now reclaimed by wildlife, embodying cycles of loss, renewal, and resilience. The project will weave these reflections with broader cultural, societal, and non-human metamorphoses, using sound to evoke layered perceptions of time and space. Combining historical references, field recordings, modular synthesis, and improvisation, McDowall will construct a multi-dimensional listening experience that captures the strangeness and complexity of living in the present era.