Owen Shiers: In Motion — On composing and the creative process

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We’re excited to share a new artist reflection from In Motion 2024 artist, Owen Shiers — the Ceredigion-born composer, producer and performer behind the acclaimed ‘Cynefin‘ project — whose latest release ‘Shrimli‘ was hailed by The Guardian as “a quietly political antidote to the modern age” (★★★★ / Folk Album of the Month).

In Motion is our transformative artist development programme, supporting composers and music creators at pivotal moments in their careers. Over 18 months, artists receive time, space and expert guidance to develop their practice and realise a new public-facing work. For Owen, this involved re-imaging his set up and creative process.

In this personal article, Owen reflects on how stepping outside familiar routines—through a self-led creative residency in the musical town of Dingle, Ireland—opened up new questions and creative energy. With accompanying sketches, van-window views and moments from local Beltaine celebrations, the piece paints an evocative portrait of composing in motion, across shifting landscapes and languages.

On composing and the creative process by Owen Shiers

Composing can sometimes be an enigmatic process. There is no magic formula, or button that you switch on. Often moments of inspiration can arrive at the most unusual (and sometimes inconvenient) moments. My own relationship with composition over the years has been mixed. I wouldn’t say I have been prolific as a writer, however having arrived at a point in my career where I needed to shake things up, I set about seeing how I could increase the volume and range of my creative output.

“I wouldn’t say I have been prolific as a writer, however having arrived at a point in my career where I needed to shake things up, I set about seeing how I could increase the volume and range of my creative output.”

— Owen Shiers

“The view from the van across the bay” © Owen Shiers

“Thankfully, being part of Sound and Music’s ‘In Motion’ has given me the opportunity to explore the creative process in a new way.

Having a hard deadline or end goal can both be daunting and galvanising, and so rather than force pieces or wait for inspiration to strike, I decided instead to try and cultivate conditions whereby creativity might be more likely to arise.”

— Owen Shiers

Thankfully, being part of Sound and Music’s ‘In Motion’ has given me the opportunity to explore the creative process in a new way. Having a hard deadline or end goal can both be daunting and galvanising, and so rather than force pieces or wait for inspiration to strike, I decided instead to try and cultivate conditions whereby creativity might be more likely to arise.

Here are some of the ways in which I’ve tried to achieve this.

Getting out of and/or interrupting daily routines
Removing myself from my normal environment
Minimising distractions and/or being too scattered (no social media!)
Booking of chunks of time (ideally at least four days) in order to immerse myself in the process
Surrounding myself with things musical (or otherwise) which are inspiring

There are also challenges with this approach. The very act of booking out time to write can create a pressure to ‘have something to show’ at the end. It’s very easy to get a few days in and start worrying because things aren’t flowing, or because you’ve not produced very much – or even worse, produced something and ended up scrapping it! That said, given half a chance things do eventually start to come, and even if they don’t, one can always use the time to work on existing ideas.

With this in mind, I created a few different self-led residencies.

“Lyric scribbles” © Owen Shiers

It’s fairly easy to book a week off and hole yourself away in an AirBnB for a week, but much harder to find inspiring musical environments in which you can immerse yourself. With this in mind, top of my list was Dingle, a musical town on the South West tip of Ireland.

“It’s fairly easy to book a week off and hole yourself away in an AirBnB for a week, but much harder to find inspiring musical environments in which you can immerse yourself.”

— Owen Shiers

Off I hopped in the van from Machynlleth one spring morning, arriving in the rugged West Kerry mountains with the evening drawing in. With folk music happening somewhere pretty much every night of the week, Dingle has become a bit of a musical mecca. Musicians flock there, beguiled by both the ancient landscape and the depth and volume of the music happening there.

My aim was not to write Irish-style trad music, rather to allow my musical muscles to be flexed on a daily basis in order get the creative juices flowing. I initially had a room lined up at the community hub in which to write, but the weather was so glorious I had no desire to be inside and worked under cover from the van, which was parked up overlooking the bay. Admittedly things took a while to get going, the long journey had been tiring and it took me a while to get into the swing of things.

The first few days I spent finishing off existing pieces and eventually new ideas began to bubble up as I settled in and started to absorb the musical ambience of the place. Walking and movement is also an important part of my creative process and the landscape offered plenty of places off the beaten path where I could pace about muttering or singing to myself!

“Walking and movement is also an important part of my creative process and the landscape offered plenty of places off the beaten path where I could pace about muttering or singing to myself!”

— Owen Shiers

The musicians I met at the sessions in the evenings were intrigued by what I was up to – and also eager to chat about my Welsh heritage and compare notes. Despite being in an Irish language stronghold, Gaelic is struggling on a community level. I was intrigued as to how Ireland has ended up with such an immense folk music tradition, but essentially lost its language (the opposite of what’s happened in Wales).

Seeing this juxtaposition so starkly framed threw what I was doing in a different light and gave me a lot of food for thought. I was generally composing what was coming to me, but given the cultural weak spots which had been highlighted during the trip, I left Ireland with more questions than answers. That said, that is the nature of any enquiry and at the very least I had some new music in my back pocket to take forward.

In Motion is supported by Arts Council England, Jerwood Foundation, PRS Foundation and Garrick Club Charitable Trust.

Stay tuned for the premiere of Owen’s In Motion project in 2025—and follow Owen’s journey on his Instagram or Website.