Mellow Pop/Rock 14

From the album 'Nocturnes' by Tom James Scott. Official release Friday 31st March. Digital available from all the major download/streaming sites. Tape+digital edition available for pre-order now from http://skire.bigcartel.com/. All orders will ship from Monday 3rd April.

Tom James Scott - 'Nocturnes' (SKR07)

Spheruleus is Lincolnshire, UK based artist Harry Towell, who also runs Whitelabrecs and records alongside his brother Stuart as Paper Relics. Harry has been active in the modern Ambient music scene for over a decade and has released works with labels such as Eilean, Hibernate, Home Normal and Time Released Sound. His output on his own imprint has been scarce however, limited to one CD edition 'Obsolarium', released back in 2016.

We launched last year's digital Home Diaries series off the back of 'Canvas Homes' which was a sonic diary of life at home during lockdown. The recording for this album began around 1 year ago with three key sound elements: field recordings, sketches made using acoustic instruments and MIDI keyboard arrangements. The sketches were all captured during brief 1-2 minute recordings to an iPhone whilst in his daughter Isla's playroom. She unwittingly became part of the album and a positive constant during the strange events that were unfolding across the spring and summer. Walks out into local parks and woodlands became a source of field recordings and a connection to the natural world. Then evenings were a time of reflection and processing, as the sounds captured were orchestrated into tracks.

In November another lockdown was announced and Harry decided to repeat the process as a compare and contrast from his original process. The idea to create a second album began with the assembly of a new item of furniture for Isla's room which arrived from France. A bag of spare fixings was labelled 'Supplémentaires' and Harry decided to set about a series of additional recordings with a view to release it as part of a double album. This time, the weather had turned cold resulting in a different lockdown altogether, with more time spent indoors. Isla had grown considerably in the space of just 6 months and her speech was much clearer. A familiarity with the 'new normal' also seems to have translated into the music, with longer, cosier tracks drawing out the winter months. There are more moments of calm and warmth; 'les dormeurs' was created at low volume one afternoon, as the household napped. 'notre cocon' establishes a sleepy comfort in the descent towards the festive period before 'le résumé' plays out a recollection of the year 2020, with Harry using every field recording he'd captured during this most eventful of years. The cover photograph was captured during a family walk in the summer; a reflective gaze into the local 'Bourne Eau'.

Written and produced by Harry Towell
Mastered by James Edward Armstrong
Artwork and design by Harry Towell

Canvas Homes + Supplémentaires

wlr090 Spheruleus - Canvas Homes + Supplémentaires

track 6 from "a wake in shadows" by @Hilyard

https://hilyard.bandcamp.com/album/a-wake-in-shadows

a wake in shadows

Hilyard - fragile wraith

Taken from the album 'Behold' released as LP and Download

Oren Ambarchi & Jim O'Rourke: 'Behold A (exceprt)' (EMEGO 176)

Figlia Del Cielo - Generazioni del cielo

Taken from the album 'Nocturnes'. Due for release March 2017.

Tom Scott - On Earth Ocean Bellows

Tom James Scott - The Roseate Dreamlight

The Our Twisted Love E.P. constitutes the most contemporary recordings by Rose McDowall available, heralding her return to live performance and songwriting. Building on the groundwork laid by McDowall with her group Sorrow, and various collaborations with key figures in the post industrial landscape, it features a full band recording and long-form songwriting that draws heavily on both McDowall’s keen sense of pop melody and melancholy. 

Breaking into a harmonium drone and Rose’s instantly recognisable, vocal, the epic title song unfurls at a glowing, glacial pace. Never hiding her love for the Velvet Underground, Our Twisted Love reminds the listener of 70s-era Nico, but McDowall’s fragile vocal has a spine-tingling fragility of its own. Guitarist Dru Moore provides shimmering chords that dress the melody, itself framed with multi instrumentalist Eilish McEvil’s plucked violin strings. Rose’s gorgeous twists with the vocal erupt into a full band jam, with bassist Clay Young, acclaimed cellist Jo Quail and drummer Lloyd James joining in for a neo-folk, dronist excursion that elevates the song into psychedelic territory.

ROSE MCDOWALL: Our Twisted Love (from LSSN044)

All composition by Volker Böhm
Instruments Fender Rhodes, sampling, Metaz electro-acoustic performance toolbox

Recording and mix by Volker Böhm
Mastering by Lars Graugaard

Photos by Roland Rossbacher
Graphic design by Volker Böhm

Many Thanks to Der Lange Schatten for allowing the use of the opening chord of Murmansk that served as inspiration for Heissenberg.

Heissenberg

From the album 'Nocturnes'. 
http://skire.bigcartel.com/product/tom-james-scott-notcurnes-skr07-tape-download-card

Tom James Scott - Pick up the Glass

Paul Watkins and Brooks Poston - Moments

Daiqing Tana - Dancer In The Darkness

Artist: Sorrow (Rose McDowall w/ Joseph Budenholzer)
Track: Devil's Plaything
Album: Let There Be Thorns EP

Tom James Scott - The Roseate Dreamlight

Tᴏᴍ Jᴀᴍᴇꜱ Sᴄᴏᴛᴛ / Sᴋɪʀᴇ