Entertainment

Composer Michael Nyman inspired by washing machine cycle

Nyman is known for his minimalist work and soundtracks to films such as The Piano.
Nyman is known for his minimalist work and soundtracks to films such as The Piano. Nyman is known for his minimalist work and soundtracks to films such as The Piano.

Celebrated British composer Michael Nyman has penned a new soundtrack inspired by a washing machine cycle.

The composer, 73, is known for his minimalist work and soundtracks to films such as The Piano.

His latest creation accompanies a 66-minute, moment-by-moment film of a full washing machine cycle.

Washing Machine – The Movie, which uses a single shot to show the wash, rinse and spin cycle, is being screened at London’s Leicester Square in early December.

Nyman recorded part of the piano-led soundtrack while surrounded by monitors featuring the wash cycle.

Samsung QuickDrive launch
Samsung QuickDrive launch
Michael Nyman has created a soundtrack for the film (Matt Alexander/PA)

He told the Press Association: “I was intrigued because the whole washing machine process combines things that are very closely connected with music, especially my music.

“The mechanical, the sense of repetition and cycles, the change from one cycle to another represents the kind of changes I’d make in a piece of music of mine.

“So structurally and in terms of repetition, sequencing and mechanical movement, this seems as though it has been waiting for me for the whole of my life or I’ve been waiting for it for the whole of my life.”

The film has been shot to launch Samsung’s QuickDrive washing machine.

Organisers say they were inspired by the trend for slow TV and cinema and research which revealed British adults spend an average of 1,481 hours watching the washing in their machine.

Nyman said: “I have written a lot of music to manufacturing processes but this is the most elaborate mechanical, mechanistic film I’ve been involved with…

“By coincidence, this new work comes 300 years after the 1717 premiere of another celebrated composition inspired by the flow of water – German-British composer George Frideric Handel’s Water Music.

“So in some ways we have come full circle with Washing Machine – The Movie.”

The film comes after a commercial featuring the QuickDrive cycle was aired on Channel 4, covering the entire advert break.

Washing Machine – The Movie will premiere at Leicester Square’s Cineworld Theatre on December 5. The film will be available to watch free of charge via YouTube and additional channels from December 6.