Pehr Torsten

Pehr Torsten is a musician, filmmaker, visual artist, and self-taught tech tinkerer who's been making brilliant things since Bristol's buzzing 1980s underground scene — and he's showing no signs of slowing down.

From drumming in bands like Blind Decor and Interference, to building his own computer controlled lighting desk from scratch, to reverse-engineering synth cartridges on a Commodore 64, Pehr has always had one foot in art and the other in a soldering iron. He's lit stages for Jonathan Richman, engineered recording sessions, produced electronic music, and created live light shows wild enough to make the Bristol Evening Post take notice.

These days, based in Cornwall, he's pushing into even more adventurous territory — crafting immersive 360° films with surround sound, performing one-off "microperformances" in the landscape, and turning 40 days of solar radar data into a playable instrument called SOL (yes, really — and you can download it for free).

Along the way he's also made a short film about reusable non-plastic Red Noses that won David Attenborough's backing, played bass and guitar in Storm Machines, restored vintage gramophones and Edison phonographs, and released music you can find on
Bandcamp and Soundcloud.

Part musician, part mad scientist, part visual storyteller — Pehr Torsten is proof that the best creatives never pick just one thing.

For more, read A Crucible of Imperfect memories...