It’s rumoured that the Third Marquess of Bute used a room in Cardiff Castle’s clock tower to commune with the dead – and lately it would appear someone’s been recreating these unholy scenes through a very loud sound system.
It’s the work of Welsh musician Richard James, formerly of Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci. His disorientating soundscapes, spliced with the impassioned speeches of Aneurin Bevan, have been erupting from the tower at 5pm daily. The installation, commissioned by Cardiff Contemporary, is entitled In Place of Fear.
The work has provoked reaction. Twitter user Elin Gold had strong praise, “Cardiff Castle was making some crazy, awesome sounds this afternoon”. Others were clearly caught off guard, “What is this noise coming from #cardiffcastle?! Sounds like aliens!!!” wrote tweeter Aimeewardlol.