MŮO Live @ The French Institute, Edinburgh

Emerging from behind a heavy black curtain at the back of the stage within the grand upper room of The French Institute, Lomond Campbell places himself behind an array of instruments and tech: samplers, synths, pedals, the venue’s in-house grand piano and Campbell’s purpose-built, retro-futurist muonophone. He speaks only briefly to introduce himself, saying there will be time at the end for questions, but now it’s time for the music.

Part of this year’s Made In Scotland programme, MŮO is a project brought to life by an invitation to Lomond Campbell from the University of Glasgow to build a musical instrument using their muon detection technology. While this technology is more commonly used in testing the structural integrity of bridges, it’s also how they discovered hidden chambers within The Great Pyramid of Giza. But for MŮO, Campbell is more interested in taking their signals – created by harmless radiation that's all around us, caused by huge unfathomable nuclear events like worlds colliding, but mostly from the sun – and using them as triggers in a musical duet. “It’s quite simple, really,” Campbell humbly states during the Q&A later on.

This evening's audience is mixed – some science fanatics, some music lovers, some fans of Campbell’s and some purely out of intrigue. Campbell says he wants MŮO to be a duet between himself and the muons and from the off that becomes quickly apparent. Starting in a more quiet and reserved place, the muonophone slowly comes to life over subtle ambient soundscapes. Campbell has built a grid of relay bulbs (similar to the ones used in a car’s indicators, he later explains) into the back of the instrument, meaning every time a signal from the muons is received, the audience can see it as well as hear it – they light up and flash in different patterns, making satisfying scuttling clicking sounds in tandem.

Image: MŮO Live @ The French Institute, Edinburgh by Charlotte Reid

During the gentler, more ambient and piano-led moments, these clicks can be heard mingling with the music, while later when Campbell’s impressive compositions get loud, complex and, at points, quite challenging to the average listener, the flickering lights let you know the muons are still firing. Vivid imagery on a big screen also changes sequence when muons are detected, making for a unique and fully immersive, experimental, science-forward hour of music – despite the occasional crackling static over the sound system, which was hard to determine as intentional or the product of a poor cable connection, radiation’s never been quite so appealing.

When the lights come up, many in the room have questions – the first being "how does it work?" while later, someone else asks if Campbell could take the muonophone on tour and the answer, sadly, is probably not. While at points he does hint at potential other projects using the University of Glasgow's muon detection technology, it seems that for now MŮO's existence will be short, just like the muons themselves.

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MŮO Live takes place at the French Institute, Edinburgh, 14, 19 and 23 Aug, 6-7pm – tickets via edfringe.com
MŮO, the immersive installation runs at the French Institute, Edinburgh, 8-25 Aug (not 11), from 11am (free, non-ticketed)

lomondcampbell.com
madeinscotlandshowcase.com