A collaborative art and music initiative named Parlour will be showcased at an open studio gathering scheduled for this weekend.
The project unites two creatives from Bradford: Ben Holden and Chris Fleming-Wall.
Holden has established himself as a versatile practitioner working across multiple artistic disciplines including design, printmaking, and musical performance.
His visual output encompasses murals, abstract prints, and commercial design work, characterised by vivid colours and energetic compositions.
Throughout the past two decades, Holden has maintained an active presence in the music scene, performing with the Bradford-based band This Et Al alongside his other musical ventures.
Fleming-Wall brings a background in film scholarship to the partnership alongside his work as an artist and musician.
Based in London where he currently works in education, Fleming-Wall contributes narrative and storytelling elements that form the conceptual backbone of Parlour.
Over the past twelve months, the pair have been developing original music while working from separate locations.
Holden operates from his studio in Shipley while Fleming-Wall contributes from the capital.
The collaboration has involved Holden transmitting demo recordings described as musical correspondence to London, with Fleming-Wall responding through lyrical content and vocal contributions.
These exchanges resulted in a collection of new material recorded at Lamigo Bay on the Scottish Highland coast and at HOHM Studios in Bradford.
The finished work comprises nine compositions exploring themes drawn from human experience and personal narrative.
The project description references stories projected through lived experience, grounded in friendship, the desire to express both tangible and imaginative realms, and enthusiasm for the creative act itself.
The collaborators drew influence from museum visits, discussions exploring their contrasting cultural perspectives, and extensive engagement with poetry, painting, and sound.
Their approach integrated individual experiences with references to recorded music and cinema history, producing work that acknowledges tradition while remaining genuinely contemporary.
Production duties were shared between Jamie Lockhart at Greenmount Studios and Tom Goodall at HOHM Studios.
The entire project was completed within an eight-day timeframe, a feat attributed to the intuitive understanding developed between the two artists.
The recording process moved from the isolated coastal setting of Lamigo Bay, Scotland, where the artists convened from London and Saltaire during summer 2025, before continuing work in the city environment of Bradford the following spring.
Their sessions incorporated cinematic textures alongside orchestral pop and soul influences, employing both analogue and digital recording methods across natural and urban acoustic environments.
The music prompted Holden to develop an accompanying series of large-scale paintings, producing one artwork for each track and creating an integrated visual and auditory presentation.
The project is characterised as a platform where painting and music converge to interpret life through artistic expression.
The open studio event provides an opportunity for visitors to examine the paintings created within their original context alongside original works and prints.
Information about the initiative will be available, along with purchasable miniature reproductions of the paintings featuring lyrics and links to stream the music.
The launch takes place tomorrow evening from six until nine at Lower Ground, Merchants Quay, Ashley Lane, Shipley.
The open studio runs on Saturday from eleven until four.
The collection becomes available for streaming on BandCamp from tomorrow.