{"product_id":"the-swimming-diaries-ost","title":"The Swimming Diaries OST","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn 1991, \u003cstrong\u003eDaniel Miller\u003c\/strong\u003e of Mute Records signed a group of female madrigal singers who'd formed a goth-industrial rock band - \u003cem\u003eMiranda Sex Garden\u003c\/em\u003e were one of the label's more maverick additions. They whirled their way through the first half of the nineties supporting \u003cstrong\u003eDepeche Mode\u003c\/strong\u003e and \u003cstrong\u003eNick Cave\u003c\/strong\u003e, setting increasingly loud riffs against their indie medieval chorales.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOne member, \u003cstrong\u003eDonna McKevitt\u003c\/strong\u003e, was quieter by nature than the others. McKevitt (vocals and electric viola) was a graduate of Kingston Polytechnic with her ears schooled in \u003cem\u003eSteve Reich\u003c\/em\u003e. When an opportunity came to score \u003cem\u003eDerek Jarman's\u003c\/em\u003e last film, \u003cem\u003eBlue\u003c\/em\u003e, in 1993, it opened a whole new musical world for her.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMcKevitt has spent the last thirty years making exactly the music she wants to make. Her modern soundscapes are both restrained and deeply emotional, combining the elegance of baroque music with an eerie minimalism that reaches back to earlier, more mysterious times.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMcKevitt has scored countless films (she is a favourite of the documentarian \u003cstrong\u003eMark Cousins\u003c\/strong\u003e) and dance pieces (her work has been performed at the Royal Opera House and Sadler's Wells); she has set the poetry of \u003cem\u003eMaya Angelou\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003ee.e. cummings\u003c\/em\u003e to music, and has worked extensively in the fashion world.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Swimming Diaries\u003c\/em\u003e is a collaboration between McKevitt and the poet and filmmaker \u003cstrong\u003eSusan Thomson\u003c\/strong\u003e. When Thomson's mother was dying, swimming helped her process her grief, and she also wrote extensively in the course of the same month. The resulting collection of poetry contains 25,000 words, one for each of the strokes she made.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMcKevitt worked in her home studio on the south coast to score music that resonates deeply with those words. She turned dreamlike lines into vivid songs, bringing new colours to them with her own voice. The meditation on grief answered a need for her too: McKevitt had just said goodbye to her dearest friend, whom she had nursed in his last illness at her family home.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dharma","offers":[{"title":"Black LP","offer_id":50433704755531,"sku":"2202966","price":27.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50433703706955,"sku":"2202965","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/5060041532767_de41d29c_thumbnail_4096.webp?v=1726882228","url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/de\/products\/the-swimming-diaries-ost","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}