Connection used to happen almost accidentally – through shared spaces, routines, small overlaps in everyday life. And in a way, those opportunities are still there. We pass people every day, exist side by side, move through the same places – yet rarely cross that invisible line into actual connection.
Instead, much of what we experience becomes something to frame, to share, to turn into attention. The beautiful, the uncomfortable, the in-between – everything slowly shifts into something curated. And attention, more often than not, becomes its own kind of currency.
“There Is Much More Appetite for Genuine Connection”
With Alone Together, producer and multidisciplinary artist Sound of Fractures gently questions this disconnect. The project actively designs interaction between strangers – not because connection isn’t possible, but because it often needs a moment, a reason, an invitation to actually happen. It creates spaces where people don’t just coexist, but meet.
We spoke with him about building environments for connection, the role of music in bringing people closer, and why meaningful encounters might need to be created just as intentionally as the systems that have replaced them.
photography: press
“Alone Together” is a project that actively designs interaction between strangers. Do people today need permission to connect?
I guess in the current way people use that word, I would probably say they need an invitation, and they need a space where they feel either safe or compelled to do so. I’ve found that through my last project SCENES, unintentionally what worked so well was a reason to be curious, a reason to share, and then a story arc that people felt not just involved in, aligned with, but a part of — that they were contributing to it, and a part of its wins, not just at the end, but day to day. Being part of something that made them feel better about the world, and was a reprieve from whatever else was happening in their lives.
How did you come up with the idea to create something like this?
It’s been ongoing over the last few years. It actually started through simple actions that were personal — me setting out to create music on my terms and working with as many friends as possible. I started sharing in a more personal and open way about my life and struggles with music, and people started to reach out to me differently. Being more open encouraged others to be more open with me and go beyond listening — they started to message me. Through those simple actions, I created a chat group, which became a community of friends drawn together by a shared interest, where my output was the seed to bring them into a space together. It grew from there. Ideally, I would be happy just recreating those feelings and connections people made during the SCENES project, but in real life.
Your background combines music industry experience and research. Do you think that is necessary to create such an experiment?
I think it’s necessary to find new answers and run experiments. The industry and the world are changing, and it’s important that independent music and artists are at the front line of working out how we navigate that. Otherwise, it will be the same big players. Combined with all our social interactions being through platforms that don’t care about us as humans but treat us as consumers and products — then yes, I guess I do. But for me, it’s not my experiment that is necessary specifically, it’s that all musicians should be experimenting beyond audio files and how we do things collectively.
“We need digital spaces designed for the goals we want, not large corporations.”
Do you think a model like this could exist inside clubs or concerts, or only in slower spaces like exhibitions?
Yes, I do. It’s a great way to invite people in for more than just a show — it turns it into a more collective experience and can enhance the thing we love about being in a club already. I mean, it’s happening everywhere already: chess clubs, UNO clubs, listening bars, community centres, conversation cards for parties and dinner parties… it’s also happening in the smoking areas at clubs. I think the big thing is there is much more appetite for genuine connection, and as people get sick of phones and being filmed inside clubs, I love the idea that this could be a preamble to raving, the afterparty, or just scattered around the more chill areas of clubs.
Social media promises closeness but often produces comparison. What kind of connection were you personally missing?
I miss hanging out and sharing with people who are passionate about the same things as me. Conversations, connection, and sharing — it’s inspiring, it’s the fuel I need as a creative. Social media is just not built for that anymore, and even when it does, it curates who we connect with based on its commercial interests. That’s not a foundation to build a meaningful life around.
Many people say they want community but hesitate to talk to strangers. What do you think holds people back?
I think that’s a very individual thing, but space is important. If you look back over time when there were community hubs — pubs, social clubs, youth clubs — space is getting taken away and made too expensive, so we retreat online. And when the internet was more of a wild west, those online spaces felt easier to find. There was less noise, fewer distractions, and less being pulled or served what we should do to be happy. Spaces can be digital, but we are seeing that we need digital spaces designed for the goals we want, not large corporations. I hope more people will come to them as they find them and experience what community can bring.
Also, genuine connection depends on listening, not just talking. Do you feel people today struggle more with listening than with expressing themselves?
Ooh, good question. I’m not sure it’s entirely true — people are listening through content to more emotional and personal stories than they have in the past, especially on social media, so that is something. But it’s a one-way street, with only commenting as the next reciprocal step. I think for listening and expression to be really meaningful, they need to be part of less separated actions. It needs to be like an ecosystem or cycle where it’s continual and evolving. For that, I think we need to design new spaces.
“I think it’s necessary to find new answers and run experiments.”
Is there anything else close to your heart you would like to share with us?
It really matters to me that independent music is creating its own models — that musicians aren’t caged into just the legacy IP system, as it’s too dominated by large corporations. What’s close to my heart right now is how we are all looking for unique careers or lives that are a balance of different things that work together to feed each other and help that ecosystem or network (I don’t know what to call it yet) grow. It should all be growing as a whole — some things will be foregrounded over others, some will make different amounts of money, and some will make you happier or less happy. Treating it as a whole and looking for balance — I feel like that’s the key. Working this out for myself and for others is what I’m most interested in right now.
Last one: When did music last make you feel unexpectedly close to someone? (smiles)
Honestly, so often at the recent event. I was meeting people I had never met before, but as we found this common ground — being part of a scene or having been at the same raves or parties — you instantly feel an unspoken bond. The song is so often the conduit to unlock those things. It’s not so much hearing the song, but it having meant something at a particular time. The “unexpectedly” is the good line here…
Tickets are available here: luma.com/tpzbq8a2
