A LOCK IS A GATE

concept album, booklet and drawings, 2011

PRODUCED in collaboration with composer Kerry Andrew and poet Evlynn Sharp A LOCK IS A GATE was commissioned by Art on the Underground.It was created by young people from the Laburnum Boat Club in Hackney.

Nearly 40 members of the Club aged 9 to 19 years old took part in creating an album of experimental songs, album artwork in the form of a book of drawings, posters for the Central line and vinyl artwork for Bethnal Green and Stratford tube stations.

A LOCK IS A GATE weaves sounds, songs and drawings into a part-real, part imagined journey that winds through London from the Tube to the canal. Along the way the young voyagers pass through a long canal tunnel and negotiate a lock. From their narrowboat they see puzzling sights and dazzling colours. They make songs telling of who they are and how they think others see them, and share their hopes and dreams for a better world in which to grow up. A lock on a canal is a watergate that requires special knowledge to unlock. But once open, it lets a boat pass along different levels of water. In that way, a lock is both a barrier and a way through. In the title song, the lock stands both for a real canal lock and for the obstacles we all face in life.