Ivors Classical Award–nominated composer and sound artist Ruby Colley explores her lifelong conversation with her nonverbal brother, Paul, in the latest Thoroughly Good Classical Music Podcast.
Ruby Colley’s new album Hello Halo — released 14 November 2025 alongside a short documentary film — distils a project that began in live performance.
Premiered at King’s Place in February and revisited at the Aldeburgh Festival in June of this year, the work turns field recordings and family archive material into an exploration of nonverbal connection with her brother Paul.
Built around her relationship with her brother Paul, Hello Halo is part sound-art, part memoir: music that asks us to slow down, listen closer, and notice what’s usually missed.
long read – hello halo at aldeburgh festival 2025
“An odd unexpected thing happens as this highly descriptive and evocative piece by Ruby and Paul Colley utilises live vocals and instrumentation, some of it looped playback.
We’re not listening to something hostile or alien, nor a depiction of the feeling of distance or isolation, but one which is surprisingly inclusive. We learn too that his communication is interpreted though smiles, sounds he generates and, importantly the eyes.”
