‘ClydeGO‘ is an annual summer festival (experience-led project) that invites people to celebrate the River Clyde by imagining what it might sound like if the river had a voice. Through music, storytelling and collective participation, the project repositions the Clyde not as a backdrop to the city, but as an active presence with its own memories, emotions and changing rhythms.

Throughout the year, Glaswegians are invited to contribute recordings, photographs, written reflections and poems created from the perspective of the river. These submissions become a growing archive of imagined ecological voices and lived experiences along the Clyde. At the centre of the project is ‘Auraland’, a speculative music label that transforms these collected materials into original musical releases, each representing a different month of the year and reflecting seasonal, environmental and cultural changes experienced by the river. Positioned between music, activism and place-based experience, Auraland treats sound as a medium for representation; transforming overlooked ecological stories into listening experiences that invite emotional engagement rather than passive consumption. Through curated sonic identities and narrative-led releases, the project explores how music can act as a bridge between people and environments that are often unheard.

The resulting soundtracks are revealed annually at the ‘ClydeGO Festival’, creating a moment where communities gather to listen, reflect and celebrate together.

Using the River Clyde as its context, ClydeGO proposes an alternative way of experiencing urban ecology: one that encourages audiences to listen more carefully to the places around them and recognise their changing conditions. Rather than speaking for nature, the project creates opportunities for ecological voices to be interpreted, shared and felt through sound, visual and storytelling.

By giving space to the imagined voice of the Clyde, the project encourages people to form deeper emotional connections with the river and rediscover a sense of appreciation, pride and care for it as a living part of Glasgow.

Ultimately, Auraland aims to build renewed appreciation, care and collective pride for local ecologies, encouraging people to see them not as background landscapes, but as places with stories worth hearing.