Open the Closed Bubble

Launched at Glasgow’s Glad Cafe in the weeks just before the first lockdown back in March 2020, Over/At has grown to become more than just a concert series. It’s now more like a “trans music-making world,” to quote the project website, encompassing record releases, published sheet music, and new commissions. Supported by the Sound and Music charity’s Composer-Curator initiative, the project was founded by Rufus Isabel Elliot, a composer originally from East London who now lives in Scotland. 

Later this month, Over/At, in association with Greater Lanarkshire Auricular Research Council (GLARC), will release Elliot’s latest composition, “A/am/ams (come ashore; turn over),” a “kind of one-act play” scored for violin, guitar, and bass, with the voice of traditional Scottish singer Josie Vallely. I met up with Elliot in the canteen of the British Library in London to discuss narrative, tradition, voice, and identity.