1st May 2017

Currently working on:



  • New Pulselovers tracks for a couple of different compilations appearing later in the year (3 original pieces, 2 cover versions)
  • An all new live set list for Pulselovers gigs later in the year in Hull, Derby, Lincoln, Doncaster and more (details in the Live page)
  • A performance concept for a solo spot at the next New Weird Planet event in June
  • Initial sketches for the second Pulselovers album, which will probably appear in 2018  


Recent:

The Restless Field

New Pulselovers track Badby 80 is to appear on the forthcoming A Year In The Country album The Restless Field. I feel privileged to be appearing alongside artists whose music I admire, including Listening Center, Grey Frequency, Time Attendant, Vic Mars, Sproatly Smith and Polypores (all of whom make regular appearances on my radio show You, the Night and the Music).

"The Restless Field is a study of the land as a place of conflict and protest as well as beauty and escape; an exploration and acknowledgement of the history and possibility of protest, resistance and struggle in the landscape/rural areas, in contrast with more often referred to urban events.

It takes inspiration from flashpoints in history while also interweaving personal and social myth, memory and the lost hidden tales of the land."


When considering the title of this project, my thoughts went immediately to historical incidents such as the Battle of the Beanfield as suggested by the remit, however as I started thinking on how to translate these fragments of recent rural history into a piece of electronic music, an image came to mind of a photograph that I took in 1983 when on a nostalgic weekend return to my childhood home in Daventry, Northamptonshire.

On that excursion from my adopted hometown of Doncaster, I took photographs of old mates, my primary and secondary schools, and the various haunts where as a child, I played football, rode my bike and collected newts, frogs and other pond life on those endless seventies summer afternoons. One such location was a subway which went under the main road into town which I used to travel through in order to get from my council estate home to the then swanky and modern comprehensive school. On the wall was a piece of graffiti which intrigued me enough to want to capture it for posterity. In black spray paint with letters a foot or so high was the inscription ‘Badby 80 - 8 arrest, 8 innocents’

Badby was (and I'm sure, still is) a tiny village around 5 miles from my old Daventry home, and is located within the boundaries of the nearby Fawsley Estate. It was a magical place where my parents and siblings would spend many a Sunday afternoon exploring the woods, which was famous for it’s deep carpet of Bluebells that covered the entire forest floor each spring.

I could never comprehend how this little hamlet, with it’s idyllic mysterious, woodland, accessible only via a broken down stone archway could be the setting for anything where 8 'innocent' people could be arrested. I tried to find out the details behind this incident from friends and family during my visit without any success. Who were the 8? What was their crime? Nobody knew…. or if they did, they weren’t talking. The photo lay in my box of memories untouched and ignored for decades, only springing back into my consciousness when considering The Restless Field. 




Purchasing Info

The Restless Field can be found in two distinct versions: 


Dawn Edition

Hand-finished white/black CDr album in textured recycled fold out sleeve with inserts and badge.

Limited edition of 104. 

Further encasement details:
1) Custom printed using archival giclée pigment ink.
2) Includes 25mm/1″ badge, secured with removable glue on string bound tag.

3) Back of one insert hand numbered. 


Night Edition

Hand-finished box-set contains: album on all black CDr, 12 page string bound booklet, 4 x badge pack, 1 x large badge, 2 x landscape format stickers.

Limited edition of 104.

Further encasement details:
1) Booklet/cover art custom printed using archival giclée pigment ink.
2) Contained in a matchbox style sliding two-part rigid matt card box with cover print.
3) Fully black CDr (black on top, black on playable side).
4) Black string bound booklet: 12 pages (6 sides printed);
Printed on textured fine art cotton rag paper, heavy card and semi-transparent vellum.
Hand numbered on the reverse.
5) 4 x badge set, contained in a see-through polythene bag with a folded card header.
6) 1 x large badge.
7) 2 x vinyl style landscape format sticker.




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