Helena Gough

Helena Gough is an English composer based in Berlin.

Initially trained in violin and composition at the Royal Academy of Music, Junior Academy, Helena Gough went on to complete a BMus at Birmingham University.

As a solo laptop player, she presents music intended for dark spaces involving multi-layered improvisation of sound materials creating a unique environment for each event.

Gough’s work is powerful, expressive Musique Concrete for the 21st Century. She attempts to create everything from the tiniest sound sources – working to make something from almost nothing.

Knot Invariants, where Gough engages with the sounds made by the cello, is her third album and the result of a joint commission by Sound and Music and the Electronic Music Studio (EMS) in Stockholm, Sweden. To create the five pieces she took source recordings of two cellists, Anthea Caddy and Anton Lukoszevieze, before disappearing into the studio to knead, tear, manipulate and reform the raw material into music.