MAYO

2002 -

OVERVIEW Autamata is the brainchild of Dublin-based artist/producer Ken McHugh. My Sanctuary was recorded over a year-long period whilst the producer was working on various other musical projects. Ken describes the album as, "A manifold of sounds that merge to create an aural journey of mixed experiences and emotions". Having reached a point where the marriage of live instrumentation and electronic programming came naturally and fluently, Ken began to incorporate all these influences into Autamata and set about making his debut album, at the same time establishing his own record label, Lefthand Records. One year on and My Sanctuary is born. The album was built up from layers of electronic music, structured into songs featuring guest vocalists, Carol Keogh, Cathy Davey and my wee nephew Michael who got to 'be a robot' for a while", Ken explains. "I even decided to sing on a couple of the numbers myself." All clichés aside, Ken really does make the music for himself as a soundtrack to his own life and experiences.Realising that he was making the equivalent of an album's worth of music a year, he decided to share this music with the rest of the world, each album documenting his creative vision of that time regardless of musical trends and styles. Although his background is in traditional Irish/ folk music, playing around Ireland as a youngster with his family's band, Ken quickly discovered Nirvana and Pixies and started "banging it out in a few garage guitar bands". A post-school stint studying sound-engineering introduced the budding technophile to the world of synthesizers and samplers, when he began taking in everything from hiphop to ambient, electronica to pop and dance. Work in a number of recording studios raised money for Ken to buy his own equipment and that was the beginning of the road that brings us to his 'sanctuary'. His current influences range from Bjork/Stina Nordenstam through to Orbital, Aphex twin and the Future Sound of London. The producers he most admires include Brian Wilson, Nelle Hooper, Timbaland and the Neptunes. The advent of modern technology has allowed Ken McHugh the autonomy to create music in the studio, and he is now intent on taking that technology into the live arena, rehearsing with a 3 piece band and giddying up ready to start gigging early next year, with a full-on visual presentation. In his Dublin studio, Area 51, in recent years Ken has worked with a host of local and international acts: David Kitt's 'The Big Romance', Creative Controle,Naimee Coleman, Moya Brennan ,various dance, pop, R'n'B projects, and a few movie soundtracks. Biography taken from the Official Autamata Website 2002 - Release of 'My Sanctuary' album [20 September] 2003 - Release of 'Jive County' single - Release of 'Tales From My Sanctuary' E.P. [17 November] 2004 - Release of 'Jellyman' single [May] - Re-release of 'My Sanctuary' album [07 May] - Release of 'Out Of This' single [04 November] 2005 - Release of 'Short Stories' album [16 September] 2006 - Release of 'Liberty Bell' single [January] 2008 - Release of 'Colours Of Sound' album [07 March] - Autamata perform as part of the Hard Working Class Heroes Festival in Dublin [September]