Kayvon Nabijou and Jonny Sim write:

We’re often persuaded to believe that our best self is our most productive self. The Solace Project invites you to challenge that notion, simply by taking one hour out of your week. 

Join us for a session of live improvised ambient music, timed to fit in between the working day and the rest of the evening. The session is free to attend, and you do not need to book in advance. Everyone is welcome.

You can use this time for reflection or meditation, or simply to relax and do nothing - something that is ever more important, and yet increasingly undervalued, in our lives.

The Solace Project was conceived in the Winter of 2024. Seeing the head-down attitude of so many people currently living in London, it seemed important and relevant to question what circumstances have led to this type of mentality. The answer is myriad, but the segment of the answer that the Solace Project focuses on is noise pollution and, more generally, sensory overstimulation. We spend less and less time during our day not entertained, not ruminating about the past or planning for the future, not engaging with external stimuli, that we have forgotten the sound of our own curious thoughts. The Solace project, through our live Solace Sessions, provides people with a peaceful space to retune to their inner voice, something that is increasingly difficult to find in hectic urban environments.

The word ‘solace’ can be defined as comfort during times of distress. Taken in this context, the solace we provide is an oasis within the act that is living our daily lives, with all the challenges and difficulties it can bring.

Our sessions consist of an hour of live improvised ambient music, a very slow-moving form of music that we find well-suited to helping people detach from the bustle of city life. We host our sessions on weekday evenings in the heart of the City of London, scheduled in the early evening to allow people to drop in straight after work, thus keeping the rest of the evening free. Listeners are welcome to sit, stand, lie down, move around: we try to break the idea of a traditional type of performance.

The project, currently still in its infancy, aims to expand to allow for other musicians to lead the sessions in other busy cities, thus spreading the ethos of calm amongst chaos.

The Solace Project was founded by Kayvon Nabijou and Jonny Simon, two musicians living and working in London.

From the New Testament

Can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. … Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.                                          (Matthew 6:27–29; 11:28–29)
 

All Scriptural quotations are taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible (Anglicized Version), copyright 1989, 1995 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.