BRIGHTON FESTIVAL: Of Land, Sea and Sky Soundbath Experience and Sounds of the Ocean Immersive Experience – The Old Market, Hove

The Old Market in Hove plays host to a duo of meditative soundbath events as part of their “In The Box” series, where the venue is boxed in by four walls which are covered with projections to create a unique immersive space.

The Of Land, Sea and Sky Soundbath Experience takes place in the afternoon and provides a relaxing 20-minute soundscape of the natural world. Twittering birdsong and then later booming whalesong is accompanied by soft, swelling synths, as projected snapshots of animals and landscapes expand and contract like polka dots across the walls. We’re provided beanbags to recline upon, and there’s enough space to spread out and properly relax into the experience. It perhaps feels more like a sound shower than a sound bath, as the soundscape shifts rather quickly from one thing to the next, but as an attention-grabbing immersive showcase for the space it’s wholly successful.

The evening’s event is the Sounds of the Ocean immersive experience with live music. For this, the In the Box environment is packed with people either on beanbags in the middle or the chairs around the edges. Joshua Sam Miller, our host and live musician for the evening, gives a short talk about what we’re going to see. His calming presence has the air of a yoga teacher/mystic guide – which is unsurprising given that this show, he tells us, has toured yoga studios in the US.

The visuals spring into action with blue inky swirls, the whole room is lit up with psychedelic patterns and for a moment it feels like a 1960s happening. The way the swirls are reflected creates the impression of jellyfish and squids, like a witty prelude for what is to come. Loud waves crash, filling the room with white noise, showing the bassy power of the 360 degree soundsystem. Miller begins playing a conch. As the performance progresses he makes his way through a gamut of instruments including clarinet, Tibetan bowls, kalimba, handpan and harp. All are played beautifully with great reverb-drenched sensitivity to a backing track of whalesong and dolphin chattering.

There’s a distinct New-Agey feel to the music. You can tell that the performance was incubated in the environment of yoga classes and Eastern-influenced meditation. This soundbath experience is more extended and ambient than the afternoon’s. Space is given to really entrench and drift away. There’s also an element of activism with some hard-hitting environmental facts at the end and a rather arresting section in the middle where, instead of a beautiful sea creature drifting through the ocean, there is a plastic cup. It’s the perfect space for the experience, the four walls making it feel properly immersive. My only quibble would be that for all that wall space it seems a shame that the projected images were the same for each wall.

Runs Until 8 May 2026