Thomas Dolby and collaborator Blake Leyh will be taking audiences on a multimedia excursion to the edge of the sea and beyond with “Invisible Lighthouse Live” this coming Saturday at The Somerville Theatre.

By Jim Clark

From the 80s onward to the present day, cutting-edge musical mastermind Thomas Dolby has taken audiences through a multifarious array of imaginary worlds of wonder.

His 1982 hit single She Blinded Me With Science, from the wildly popular The Golden Age of Wireless album remains a perennial favorite from the golden age of synth-pop and proto-electronica among fans and those who just happened to be there at the time.

No one-hit-wonder, Dolby has kept busy in the interim, creating more musical magic than can be imagined by most.

His latest effort is a “trans-media” performance piece entitled The Invisible Lighthouse, to be presented at The Somerville Theatre this coming Saturday evening.

The performance features a 45 minute film that Dolby shot and edited himself, along with musical accompaniment by himself, and live Foley sound effects provided by collaborator Blake Leyh.

Inspired by the knowledge that a lighthouse that he grew up with on the coast of England had been decommissioned and left to topple from decay, Dolby created the audio-visual opus as a bittersweet tribute to the doomed structure.

“On the surface it’s about the closing of this lighthouse,” Dolby explains. “It’s on the east coast of England and it’s being threatened by coastal erosion, since it was closed down this year.”

“It’s been there since 1792, and it’s actually the 11th lighthouse that’s been recorded on that point, and the rest of them got washed away as well.”

Sadly for Dolby, it’s no longer a matter of trying to save the lighthouse, as he points out that the average weekend yachtsman has better navigational tools available on a smart phone than the lighthouse can now provide.

Even though the building has been bought by someone, it is nonetheless certain that it will eventually fall to the withering effects of the harsh coastal environment it is exposed to.

Though many can relate to the passing of dearly loved childhood icons such as this, the romanticized idea of the lighthouse, Dolby muses that sometimes our fondness for things that pass away from us can often be overly romanticized in our memories.

“There was this creek that I used to play by as a kid,” Dolby says. “I went back there and what I remembered as a raging torrent was just a little trickle. Somebody else says there is this mountain I used to climb and it was just a little hill. Our memories play interesting tricks with us, and really that’s the underscore of my film. The unreliability of our memories.”

The current show as includes the showing of the film with misic played by Dolby and sound effects provided by Blake Leyh, who uses classic old time radio style techniques to add realistic aural textures to the live presentation.

Narration is also interwoven into the production, and a Q&A session follows the film, allowing the artists and audience members to interact and share their thoughts and feelings about the presentation.

Dolby also breaks out some familiar songs from his past catalog, right up to his most recent release, A Map Of The Floating City.

“I’ve played at The Somerville Theatre before” Dolby reveals. “It’s one of my favorite venues. It’s going to be a treat to do the show there.”

Dolby believes that people will be fascinated by what Blake Leyh does. “He does footsteps on pebbles and twigs and leaves. The sound of the ocean is there by using a tray of ball bearings, and the sound is enhanced through his computer.”

“So your attention is sort of constantly shifting from the screen to what I’m playing and the sound effects that Blake is making. And I think it’s going to be a great fit for the Somerville Theatre.”

One can be assured that when Thomas Dolby finds a good fit, great things will happen.

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Thomas Dolby’s Invisible Lighthouse Live, featuring Live Foley artist Blake Leyh, this Saturday, Oct. 26, 8:00 p.m. at The Somerville Theatre, 55 Davis Square, Somerville.