The Sound of Silence: Another Noise Unites Deaf Artists in an Unprecedented Collaboration

Raymond Antrobus & Evelyn Glennie – Another Noise (2024)

Another Noise marks the first collaboration between Raymond Antrobus, a Jamaican British poet, and Evelyn Glennie, a renowned solo percussionist. The album was produced by Grammy-winner Ian Brennan and recorded live in a single afternoon in the UK. Remarkably, the entire recording process involved no rehearsals, and nearly every track was captured in a single take. Glennie improvised her parts without any prior knowledge of Antrobus’s poems.

Dame Evelyn Glennie is celebrated as the world’s most acclaimed solo percussionist and the only deaf musician to win a Grammy, a feat she has achieved twice. Her extensive career includes nearly fifty albums and collaborations with artists such as Björk, Fred Frith, and Bobby McFerrin. She was the subject of the documentary Touch The Sound and has been honored with numerous awards, including the Polar Music Prize and the Royal Academy of Music Award. Glennie’s mission is to “teach the world to listen.”

Raymond Antrobus is a Ted Hughes Award-winning poet known for addressing the challenges of deafness and racism in his work. His book, The Perseverance, was named Poetry Book of the Year (2019) by The Guardian and The Sunday Times. Antrobus has performed at major festivals globally, from South Africa to the USA. On this album, Glennie created the experimental percussive sounds that accompany Antrobus’s spoken-word performances.

Glennie describes the collaboration as a novel experience, stating, “In all my years of playing, this is something I’ve never done—collaborating with a poet. It is an entirely new approach.”

Producer Ian Brennan emphasizes that the project was driven by the exceptional artistry of Antrobus and Glennie, with their deafness being incidental to the larger creative process.

Both artists have been recognized with honorific titles by the Queen of England: Antrobus as an MBE and Glennie as a Dame.

The track “The Noise” features guest vocals from Precious Perez, a blind singer and current President of RAMPD.org, an organization advocating for accessibility and rights for disabled performers. RAMPD successfully campaigned for the inclusion of sign language interpreters at the Grammy Awards.

Tracks:

1. The Noise [featuring Precious Perez]
2. Upwards
3. Resonance
4. Signs, Music
5. Addicted to Every Distraction of You
6. Member
7. Text and Image
8. The Mechanism of Speech
9. Horror Scene as Black English Royal (captioned)
10. Oklahoma City
11. Ode to My Hair
12. To The William Blake Professor