Available to listen to and buy at Bandcamp
Release date: 29 November 2021
Format: digital download. Artwork and typography by Landschaft.
Five live genre busting sessions, four with no overdubs. Mastering eq / compression / limiting only. Hammer beats from the North. TS Eliot's 'Little Gidding' and a lyrical poem by Alcuin were my inspiration here exploring themes of circularity and layering. So, the work has a very much historical foundation; book-ended by the start and end pieces 'When the Short Day is Brightest' and 'Green Branches Give their Shadow to Tired Men'... but anchored to the present by the transformed landscape of the monolithic BALTIC, Gateshead.
'When the Short Day is Brightest': Framed when I was reading TS Eliot's finest poem 'Little Gidding'. Eliot deploys all of his poetic arsenal in LG, and here I do the same with my art-musical practice. The irregular beats and improvised top line were captured after a couple of takes. I kept them raw and mean to retain the immediacy!
'Repeat and You Will Remember': Wigged out beats, again laid down after a couple of dry runs to get the drops and switches of instrumentation figured out. The beat triggers are fired on principles of 'well formedness' and geometry - I love the wrip crack precision of the snares on this piece, the synth top line just flowed from the beat turbulence.
'Kaleidoscopic Forms': A more structured top line to an insistent beat. It'll get on your nerves at first but it will grow on you...
'Facing the Baltic': Maximal version of 'Repeat and you will Remember'. Crueler beats, screaming metal, even punchier snares. Rammed the volume to the ceiling on this one, taming with aggressive limiting.
'Green Branches give their Shadow to Tired Men': Slap bass and snare motorik workout. Put this on repeat and drive drive drive. Three layers of beat interlocked.
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