My latest album ‘Barbican’ is out now on Home Normal.

‘Barbican’ draws inspiration from the Brutalist architecture and cultural ecosystem of London’s Barbican Estate and Art Centre. Built around field recordings captured on site, the work weaves together the everyday acoustics of the complex – its elevated walkways, resonant concrete and reverberant ambient public spaces – with the expressive potential of vintage electronic instruments.

The album was recorded during artist residencies at Electronic Studio Radio Belgrade in Serbia and Elektronmusikstudion in Stockholm, Sweden, using period synthesisers including the EMS Synthi 100, Buchla 100 and 200 systems, and Serge modulars. These historically significant instruments were used to shape immersive, sculptural compositions that mirror the Barbican’s utopian ideals, scale and presence.

‘Barbican’ sits at the intersection of place, history, and electronic experimentation, offering a focused and textural work that reflects on architecture as both physical structure and lived environment.

Credits

Released by Home Normal on limited CD and download, 20 March 2026.

Environmental sounds recorded in the Barbican Estate and Centre, London.
EMS Synthi 100 synthesizer recorded at Electronic Studio Radio Belgrade, June 2024.
Buchla 100, Buchla 200, Serge and Erica SYNTRX synthesizers and AKG BX20 spring reverb recorded at EMS (Elektronmusikstudion), Stockholm, September 2023 and October 2024.

Written and recorded by Wil Bolton
Cover art by Wil Bolton
Mastered by Ian Hawgood

Reviews

“Wil Bolton’s ‘Barbican’ (The Home Normal) is packed with the good stuff. I’m not much of a synth nerd, but I know my numbers when I see them. This features and EMS Synthi 100, Buchla 100 and 200 and a Serge modular among others. You don’t really go owning stuff like that, so being able to visit and use them is a treat. You see, ‘Barbican’ was recorded during artist residences in a couple of Europe’s famous electronic music studios – Electronic Studio Radio Belgrade and Stockholm’s legendary Elektronmusikstudion. What’s more the album draws inspiration from the Brutalist architecture of London’s Barbican and is built round field recordings captured on site. Old synths, famous studios, brutalist architecture, it all seems like a lot going on and then you get to the work itself. You can see why he went down this route, makes sense, as he says in the notes, to use the “expressive potential of vintage electronic instruments”. Another one for headphones, this. You can feel the place in the sounds, the location recordings help obviously, but the old synths seem to make noises that are totally in keeping with the Brutalist buildings. Which is a very neat trick.” – Moonbuilding Weekly

“…Between Belgrade and Stockholm, the reverberation settles like dust of light, and Ian Hawgood’s mastering seals the whole with sober nobility. Released by Home Normal, it sounds like a postcard from a future imagined yesterday.” – Rockerilla