JOSH SEMANS - 'TO WILL A SPACE INTO BEING'

Formats

• HDNTS0006LPC - LP (COLOURED)

  0793072985664

Details

Following his debut album and two EPs, Hidden Notes Records are proud to announce the release of Josh Semans’ sophomore full-length album; To Will A Space Into Being. Released on September 15th 2023, the album comprises ondes Martenot, Juno 6, and a string quartet, represented visually by manipulated AI imagery. Since his last outing on Hidden Notes Records, Josh has shared the stage with Charles Hazlewood and Portishead’s Adrian Utley, performing improvised drone works inspired by the writings of Hildegaard Von Bingen. Josh has also been enlisted as pianist and synth-player in Alexandra Hamilton-Ayres’ latest performances at The Barbican and Bristol’s St. George’s Hall. Back in the studio, Josh has recorded for the likes of Volker Bertelmann (Hauschka) and Alex Baranowski, produced a bounty of reworks for artists such as Garreth Broke, Larkhall and Simeon Walker, and worked in collaboration with Spitfire Audio in the creation of the LABS Ondes Musicales virtual instrument. For his latest project, Josh has created a world that is entirely his own; combining the retro-futuristic sound of the vintage Juno 6 synthesiser; the classically-coded string quartet; and the otherworldly ondes Martenot - one of the earliest electronic instruments, born in the trenches of the First World War.Inspired by the ethics and intentions of brutalist architecture, ‘To Will A Space Into Being’ expresses a reverence for its raw materials, the space they occupy, and the world they create. Buildings like the New Street Signal Box in Birmingham, The Barbican in London, and the pumping station on Rotherham’s Marsh Street make no attempt to hide their means of construction. ‘To Will A Space Into Being’ channels a similar honesty of materials. The hiss and warble of old tape machines remind the listener of poured concrete taking on the texture of the wooden boards used as moulds for walls; interlocking floors and elevations are represented in repeating, polymetric string arrangements. Josh was led to ideas of retro-futurism; visions of the future from decades ago. The now 40-year-old Juno 6 is at one point on this timeline, centuries ahead of the instruments of the string quartet. Then, the ondes Martenot navigates the years of space between them - oscillating between past and future effortlessly. Reminiscent of the soundtrack sensibilities of Vangelis and John Carpenter, the outsider explorations of Daphne Oram and Delia Derbyshire, and the organic synth stylings of Jon Hopkins and Rival Consoles, the electronics of To Will A Space Into Being are adorned with cinematic string arrangements and ethereal ondes Martenot lines. Suspended textural interludes are woven between bigger, bolder setpieces. The artwork for this album has been created by Miriam Bean as part of her ‘These Places Do Not Exist’ project. Working collaboratively with artificial intelligence, she carefully prompts imagery into existence to then be curated and manipulated using a variety of digital and manual techniques. Almost 300 versions of the album artwork were made, and carefully examined before a selection was made. Adam Hinks’ (graphic designer and Hidden Notes co-founder) graphical contributions to the vinyl packaging utilise similar techniques; digital text made physical, distorted by hand on the way back into the computer.

Tracks

Press

Features the otherworldly ondes Martenot - one of the earliest electronic instruments

Audio & Video

THOM MORECROFT - 'WAITING FOR LEO'

Formats

• NXN019LP - LP

  0615625706680

• NXN019CD - CD

  0615625652437

Details

Singer-songwriter Thom Morecroft releases his sophomore album, “Waiting For Leo.” Drawing inspiration from the rich songwriting style of 1970s folk-rock and infusing it with the distinctive aesthetic lens of Glasgow’s C86 scene, Morecroft delivers a captivating lo-fi experience that pays homage to the past while carving its own unique path. Think Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young meets the infectious energy of Teenage Fanclub’s “Bandwagonesque.” During the pandemic-induced lockdowns of 2020 and beyond, Thom embarked on a remarkable creative journey, offering his Patreon subscribers a new digital album every month. It is within these prolific collections that the songs for “Waiting For Leo” were born. With an abundance of time and the freedom to explore his creative impulses, Morecroft crafted a collection of songs that are reflective, philosophical, and deeply personal. Some look towards the future with hope, others reminisce about the past, while some capture the essence of the present moment, and a few wander into realms of pure fantasy. As Thom navigated the challenge of selecting the final tracklist, he honed and refined each composition, adding production elements and creating a cohesive sonic tapestry. “Waiting For Leo” is an album that manages to strike a delicate balance, emanating a sense of contentment and carefree spirit while simultaneously delving into themes of family, alcoholism, grief, and loss. The introspective nature of these songs, born out of a period devoid of external stimulation, allows listeners to embark on a thought-provoking journey alongside Morecroft. Reflecting on the album’s title, Thom shares, “The album is called ‘Waiting for Leo’ because the songs were written and recorded during the period before my partner and I discovered we were expecting our son. There is also the famous Samuel Beckett play called ‘Waiting for Godot,’ which I must confess I have never seen. Is it good?” “Waiting For Leo” stands as a testament to Thom Morecroft’s artistic growth and showcases his ability to merge captivating songwriting with a distinct sonic aesthetic. As listeners immerse themselves in the intimate world he has created, they will discover a tapestry of emotions that resonate deeply.

Tracks

(1) Like A Dog
(2) The Last Day You Left Home
(3) Wildbahn
(4) All In My Head
(5) Someday
(6)Somebody Hurt Me
(7) Mother Pillow
(8) You?ve Got To Really Like It
(9) Scream By The Dozen
(10) The Bottle
(11) When I Bury My Father
(12) The World Goes Round
(13) Throw My Love Away
(14) The Heavenly Doctor

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Audio & Video

APOSTILLE - 'PRISONERS OF LOVE AND HATE'

Formats

• LSSN087 - LP

  5060446127964

Details

*LTD 500 COPIES ON BLACK VINYL* Prisoners Of Love And Hate is an offering to community, to desires that imprison and liberate, to people in all their divinity and ugliness. Apostille - aka Night School Records’ captain Michael Kasparis - presents his third album with a bang, a bursting ball of NRG, empathy and bristling living. Like its predecessor Choose Life, Prisoners... was recorded in Full Ashram Celestial Garden in Glasgow with Lewis Cook (Free Love) through 2022. A 9 song treatise on Pop music, trauma, ecstasy and the mundanities between the extremes, Kasparis takes on classic 80s Synth Pop, 90s House music, 00’s Trance, wistful balladry, 70’s Power Pop. The thread that runs through the album is a boundless energy, an openness to the moment, to living the pains and joys equally, open armed. This is a place of no judgement, of possibility, challenge and comfort. The nine songs on Prisoners... can be read as separate ruminations on the feelings and desires that imprison our experience. Through it all the narrator struggles against them, transported and fooled by love and longing, peering through the bars of anguish, flailing in a cell of emotions. Saturday Night, Still Breathing breaks the album open with an invigorating scream and pounds into the night with a nod to Whigfield, Kasparis’ Punk roots and House music. Over a thumping 909 kick and bassline, Kasparis pens a love letter to being with people, the collective energy of hearts in a room, thrumming together, making it through together. Written as private ritual magic, manifesting community during a time of isolation, it’s as if the party is the most important thing in the world. Rely On Me imagines 80s Mute Synth Pop, Erasure fronted by Bruce Springsteen, romance doomed and forever perfect in the mind. Spit Pit completes the opening triptych of fast paced rollercoasters, an ode to childhood forged out of change and discomfort told with a bold, epic production by Lewis Cook, AFX breakbeats, 160BPM kicks and a commanding vocal performance. On People Make This City, Kasparis eases off the gas, lets the mist blowing in from the Clyde River blow over his version of Glasgow. A wistful ballad about small town gossip and coming through anger to leaving it all behind, it provides some shadow to the bright light of the vibrancy of the album. Natural Angel owes much to 70s and 80s power pop, guitar melodrama, Thin Lizzy and Rick Springfield through the prism of co-dependence in relationships. It’s a theme that’s picked up in slow burner Nothing But Perfect, a hazy synth soul-inflected song about building your own mythology, constructing a dream to hide in, to hold on to. The most surprising track of the album, Summer of ’03 re-imagines the Trance music of early naughties Europe into a lament for an eternal summer or as a fan once put it, “Meat Loaf with a donk on it.” A recognition that all ecstasy has tragedy laced within it, it’s a theme that is sewn through out the LP and continued on the final song Feel Good (You Can Make Me). Referencing Shalamar’s 1982 mega hit by way of N-Trance’s piano riffs, the epic closer is riddled with heartbreak, vulnerability and power. It’s a testament to the new confidence in Kasparis’s songwriting, sure, but also to the enduring power of people to come together in mutual dependence and love. If ecstasy is always laced with tragedy, the Prisoners of Love and Hate can always reach out between the bars to meet in the middle, the eternal now.

Tracks

1. Saturday Night, Still Breathing
2. Rely On Me
3. Spit Pit
4. People Make This City
5. Natural Angel
6. Disease To Please
7. Nothing But Perfect
8. Summer Of 0?3
9. Feel Good (You Can Make Me)

Press

#28 THE QUIETUS AOTY 2023

Audio & Video