Velvet Dreams

Matthew Hindson writes

'During a period of correspondence with the reclusive Australian violist-turned-truck-driver Jock Reby, my attention was directed towards a notepad of graffiti that Reby had transcribed from the toilet walls of an English Language School in Bangkok. It seems that the students of the school had used the practice of writing on toilet walls as a means of experimenting with their English. Consequently it contained some quite bizarre interpretations of the English Language. One piece of writing referred incessantly to “velvet dreams”, and their relationship to the writer’s missing (romantic) partner. Despite the often-unclear nature much of the text (what exactly is a “velvet dream”?), it was evident that the author felt very strongly about the subject. This work for choir and orchestra has therefore utilised fragments of the so-called “Velvet Dreams” text, together with some extra texts written in a similar style by myself and the contemporary poet Sarah Hindson.'