A culmination of Boddy’s ever-evolving soundcraft, Modulations IV stands as a testament to his lifelong exploration of electronic music and the synths that stitch harmony from chaos. Not just a collection of performances—it’s world-building through sound.
Through shadowed realms and luminous peaks
Modulations IV is a live celebration of modular synthesis—a voyage into the sci-fi landscapes crafted by visionary composer Ian Boddy. This series of concerts and performances unveils Boddy’s signature ambient electronics: immersive drones, shimmering pulses, and understated blips that echo like fragments of soundtracks from forgotten, dystopian futures.
Rooted in the circuitry of Boddy’s mobile setup—featuring Eurorack, Buchla, Serge, Moog, and custom-designed AJH Synth modules—his music unfolds in shifting sonic vistas. Sweeping synth gestures rise and dissolve, guiding listeners through shadowed realms and luminous peaks. These live compositions invite and entangle, offering an experience that’s as intimate as it is cosmic.
Each piece maps a unique trajectory. Modulations IV seeks not just to perform but to design—future soundscapes that shimmer with mystery, weight, and beauty. The opening track, “Awakenings,” is a forty-minute expanse of serene (and sometimes errie) electronic flickers, bubbling rhythms, floating theremin, and drifting harmonic layers. It plays like a meditative prologue to a larger journey. In contrast, “EMOM” feels like a synthesizer awakening to consciousness—tentative, brittle, reaching outward. “Hildegard” evokes cinematic depth and shadowy narrative, a hymn to machines and the stories they can quietly whisper.
In these subtle passages, Boddy finds resonance. “Star’s End” becomes an emotional epic, weaving ambient textures and fractured signals into something elegiac and profound. The final piece, “Wavetable #22,” ascends into the stratosphere—a spell of radiant tones and drifting resonance, where wonder and serenity coalesce.
A culmination of Boddy’s ever-evolving soundcraft, Modulations IV stands as a testament to his lifelong exploration of electronic music and the synths that stitch harmony from chaos. Not just a collection of performances—it’s world-building through sound.
Phil Booth, Jez Creek & Dave Buxton at the Awakenings.
Martin Christie of EMOM.
Neil Campbell at the Capstone Theatre in Liverpool.
Chuck van Zyl, host of Star’s End Radio.
Andrew Ostler & the Wavetable team in Edinburgh.
Modulations IV is available on DiN. [Bandcamp]
