Nick Carlisle has played an integral role as writer & producer in a handful of projects on the UK DIY music scene over the last 15 years, from Peepholes (Upset The Rhythm Records) 2006-2014, through Bamboo (Upset The Rhythm) 2014-2020, Katy and Nick (Gob Nation) (2017-2022), and Lean Logic (O Genesis Recordings) (2020-present). Originally from rural Northern Ireland and now residing in Brighton, England, Nick’s music blends vintage analogue electronics & acoustic instruments with more contemporary digital sounds and samples to paint a world that’s instantly recognisable but simultaneously unfamiliar & often unsettling. Whilst this is Nick’s debut solo album of songs, in 2022 he released a largely instrumental album Häxan - A Soundtrack having been commissioned by QFT to compose and perform a new soundtrack for the 1922 horror film of the same name, as part of the BFI In Dreams Are Monsters season. Nick will be performing the soundtrack live at the Barbican, London on the 28th January 2024, as well as another showing at Queen’s Film Theatre, Belfast, and the Ulster Folk Museum Picture House, Northern Ireland later this year.

Bloody Saturnalia takes its title from the book “Defying Hitler” (Sebastian Haffner), where Haffner describes the atmosphere as Germany slid towards Fascism in the 1920s when “all standards lost their value” following the hyper-inflation crisis. The phrase hangs over the album in a few different contexts- there’s the obvious parallel with populism in the US and UK, but also the looming cloud of climate change, feared by many and ignored by others in equal measure (see album opener “Life In A Major Key” and anxious portent “2039”). And finally in a more personal context, in the title track, set in a hospital ward where outside the window the distant carnival atmosphere of New Year’s Eve interrupts the silence with exploding fireworks.

The single “End Of Terrain” was written following the passing of Nick’s Dad: “I took myself off to Iceland for a few days to try and see the Northern Lights, maybe because it seemed like the sort of thing Dad and I might have done - maybe a step up from getting up at 2am to watch lightning storms as we used to do when I was a child. Anyway, I didn’t see a bloody thing, just a faint green tinge only visible in long exposure photos. But! With a little poetic licence, in End Of Terrain the lights are there, dancing in the sky; the souls of recently departed loved ones if you believe the Inuit legend.”

Nick produced the album and handles all the lead vocals, as well as adding his signature keyboards along with occasional guitar, bass and percussion. He’s also joined by past and current collaborators: Rachel Horwood from Bamboo (also Trash Kit and Bas Jan) adds a backing vocal to “A Tear In The Fold”, & Rose Keeler-Schäffeler from Lean Logic (also Keel Her) does the same for “2039”, a version of which which was released as a single and part of the Earth/Percent x Earth Day ’23 Compilation album in April as part of Brian Eno’s Earth/Percent charity initiative. Other players on the album include Foz Foster (The Monochrome Set / David Devant And His Spirit Wife) who adds a selection of guitars and hand bells, not to mention musical saw in “2039”, Marcus Hamblett (Bears Den) who adds bass guitar & brass on several tracks, Aubrey Simpson (Pale Blue Eyes) who plays bass guitar on "Chloe's Brain" as well as providing the photography, and Simon Adams, who plays the drums and percussion throughout.

Bloody Saturnalia

End Of Terrain

And Loop

Balancing Act are back with their first single of 2024, ‘She Plays The Theremin’, their catchiest track yet. Produced by longtime Balancing Act collaborator, Richard Woodcraft (Radiohead, Paolo Nutini), ‘She Plays The Theremin’ stars swinging riffs and an addictive hook, showcasing the quartet’s expertise in crafting an irresistible indie-pop banger, whilst effortlessly welcoming in the most lovable and snappy traits of punk rock classics. ‘She Plays The Theremin’ is Balancing Act’s first track of 2024, and sees them ready to showcase the fruits of their labour.

She Plays The Theremin

Invisible Wall

I made this piece a number of years ago in L.A. on a four track recorder. I heard the melodies and counterpoint in my head and fit them together. Too bad I didn't have an orchestra handy to fill out the sound. Enjoy.

Evensong

Elsewhere

This track is part of a compilation "Obsolescence" - various artist.
You will find the whole album in Primary Soud - Bandcamp

Vetustas

The 3rd movement of the String Quartet No. 18 "No Silence" (2024).

Pawel Strzelecki: 3. Adagio [String Quartet No. 18 "No Silence" (2024)].

"In that time, I knew their voices only by the resistance I felt when I tried to sound my own.
They made my voice move as it had not before. For a moment I resonated, and felt dimensions of space, time, energy and imagination.
Slowly I learned to push my inner flame one way, then another.
Then I looked to explain things more. I began to feel around, and then I felt another, and more. Together we sang as we explored the extent of our bounds."

* * *

This is the start of a music series about a planet named Mastross.

This planet has abiogenesis much like our own, but rather than forming structures of increasing complexity from organic compounds like amino acids, Mastross has something more like a crystal-growing operation. Deep within underground aquifers and river systems, a strange electric crystal forms. This crystal is much like the piezoelectric quartz we have here on Earth, but is capable of a much more intricate lattice - one with naturally-formed, self-optimizing logic gates. When subjected to mechanical shock, electrons within the lattice are excited to a higher-energy state, causing them to escape the material as sparks of light and sound - but also powering the protocircuitry within crystal bodies. The rushing water provides enough vibrations to keep this electron flow going for millions of years and enough dissolved minerals for these crystal formations to grow to astonishing size and complexity.

This results in a race of beings, born from inorganic minerals, who in appearance and development more closely resemble computers than biological life. In other words, naturally evolved robots. In time these sessile crystalline beings will figure out almost everything. Their cultural and societal problems will be solved before any of them can take a single step in a motile body. Once they can move and replenish energy and communicate like we do, what will challenge them, and what will they do?

In this song we hear the initial winks of protoconsciousness - kindling being stacked up for the lighting of the secret inner fire we call "life". We hear crystal beings sounding their voices and eventually making contact, and then we hear them begin to figure out existence and shape their environment for the first time. I have much more to write about the ways they do this, but that's for another time. :)

Mastross 1: First, we were Crystals

This week’s podcast features music made by Naviar’s community inspired by
Yosa Buson’s poem “vernal seas… / all day long swelling, falling / swelling, falling”


Tracklist:

Night Note - Vernal Seas…
rikardfvs - Vernal Seas
LazenbeeIndustries - vernal seas
Mr_Lamppost - Swelling, Falling
noble-earths - Swelling Falling

https://www.naviarrecords.com/naviarhaiku525-vernal-seas/ 

Credits:

music intro: “This ruined house” by Tuonela
voice intro: Ian Joyce
cover image: Cris S.
voice reciting the poem: Marco Sebastiano Alessi

Naviar Broadcast is a radio programme curated by Naviar, broadcasted on Resonance Extra every Wednesday at 7pm UK time. Thirty minutes of experimental music made in response to a weekly assigned haiku poem.
To have your music featured on the show, you'll have to participate in the Haiku music challenge: https://www.naviarrecords.com/about/naviar-haiku
support the show: https://www.naviarrecords.com/support-us/

Naviar Broadcast #305 – vernal seas – Wednesday 7th February 2024

Shapes

📸 by Aubrey Simpson. Nick Carlisle has played an integral role as writer & producer in a handful of projects on the UK DIY music scene over the last 15 years, from Peepholes (Upset The Rhythm Records) 2006-2014, through Bamboo (Upset The Rhythm) 2014-2020, Katy and Nick (Gob Nation) 2017-2022, and Lean Logic (O Genesis Recordings) 2020-present. Originally from rural Northern Ireland and now residing in Brighton, England, Nick’s music blends vintage analogue electronics & acoustic instruments with more contemporary digital sounds and samples to paint a world that’s instantly recognisable but simultaneously unfamiliar & often unsettling. 
New single "End Of Terrain." out now:
https://nickcarlisle.bandcamp.com/track/end-of-terrain
"End Of Terrain" is taken from the forthcoming album "Bloody Saturnalia", available to pre-order now ahead of it's release on 24th Nov, on The Colour Inverted Records:
https://nickcarlisle.bandcamp.com/album/bloody-saturnalia
"Häxan - A Soundtrack" album, available digital / CD formats from https://nickcarlisle.bandcamp.com/album/h-xan-a-soundtrack 🎵
"Häxan With Live Score By Nick Carlisle" 📽 :
28.1.24: Barbican, London - both performances SOLD OUT

End Of Terrain

Nick Carlisle

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