BLUE LAKE - 'SUN ARCS'

Formats

• TU002LP - LP

  5060446128046

Details

**LTD BLACK VINYL REPRESS** Blue Lake is the musical moniker of American born, Copenhagen based multidisciplinary artist and musician Jason Dungan, who signs to the Tonal Union imprint for the release of his new longform album ‘Sun Arcs’. It follows 2022’s release ‘Stikling’, earning a nomination for ‘Album of the Year’ at the Danish Music Awards plus warm praise from The Hum blog and musicians and DJs alike including Jack Rollo (Time is Away/NTS) and Carla dal Forno. A self taught player, Dungan began freely experimenting with self-built multi-string instruments, preferring to build his own hybrid 48-string zither and working in the realms of left-field ambient music, off kilter folk and improvised acoustic minimalism. The starting point of ‘Sun Arcs’ saw Jason travel for a week alone to Andersabo, a cabin set in the idyllic Swedish woods just outside of Unnaryd, known also as the music project, festival and residency space which has been run by Dungan since 2016, hosting artists like Sofie Birch, Johan Carøe and Ellen Arkbro. Whilst writing 1-2 pieces per day, a conscious decision was made to leave behind everyday distractions and shut out the outside world to instead focus on the natural passage of time as Dungan recalls: “My only sense of time came from these daily walks out in the woods with my dog, and an awareness of the sun’s path as it moved across the sky each day.” The album’s immersive world unfolds with the opener ‘Dallas’, an ode to his home state and a musical synthesis of these two disparate spaces (Texas and Denmark), the touchstones of Dungan’s life. A folk-esque single acoustic builds to a flowing arrangement of clarinets, organ and cello drones coupled with percussion. ‘Green-Yellow Field’ chimes in as the first of two solo oriented zither recordings twinned with the dreamlike title track ‘Sun Arcs’, both densely rich as cascading and overlapping harmonic tones resound. ‘Bloom’ emerges with a krautrock psyche before an eruption of cello drones, slide guitar and free-ranging zither playing, ushering in the anticipation of spring. With half of the recordings conceived in Andersabo, Jason returned to Copenhagen to form the album's centre piece ‘Rain Cycle’ which features a tempered Roland drum machine alongside shifting zither improvisations. ‘Writing’ explores the shimmering harp-like qualities of sweeping playing figurations with Dungan mapping out adjusted tuning “zones” on the zither for unconventional but creatively liberating effects. ‘Fur’ captures the feeling of openness and the momentum of time, seeing Dungan perform waves of solo clarinet, often in one takes and embellished with textural drones, a zither solo, and layers of guitar. ‘Wavelength’ the album's closer is fondly inspired by the film works of Michael Snow and Don Cherry’s seminal live album ‘Blue Lake’ (1974), as it builds out from a drone-generated zither chord and features an alto recorder solo. Dungan found a deep connection to Cherry’s stripped back performance ethos, focusing on the core beauty of minimal instrumentation creating a genre-less meeting between folk and jazz. A dialogue is formed between the solo and the bandlike performances, interlinked in a geographical duality with all finding a sense of commonplace as musical sketches of visited landscapes. The bountiful instrumentation ebbs and flows as further layers emerge with Dungan constructing his material much like an artist would, recording and reviewing, adding and subtracting. Musically it portrays a form of double life led by an American-identifying person living in Scandinavia, and a new found presence in Denmark, seeking out underdeveloped marshlands and barren stretches of beach adrift from other rhythms and distractions. Highlighting their individual and potent importance Dungan concludes: “Both places feel like “me”, I think on some level the music is always some kind of self-portrait.” ‘Sun Arcs’ depicts the intricate balance of nature’s cycles and the paths outlined by the seasons, from a winter dormancy to a warm sun drenched scene. The album scales new glorying heights and further defines Dungan’s musical narrative, inhabiting a unique space in left-field, improvised and experimental music, borning his most accomplished compositions to date. A singular and visionary expression, drawing on an array of instruments and sound worlds with a renewed sense of joy and discovery. The album's rich tapestry was mixed by Jeff Zeigler (Laraaji, Mary Lattimore, Kurt Vile / Steve Gunn) and mastered by Stephan Mathieu (Kali Malone, KMRU, Félicia Atkinson).

Tracks

Track listing:
A1: Dallas
A2: Green-Yellow Field
A3: Bloom
A4: Rain Cycle
B1: Writing
B2: Fur
B3: Sun Arcs
B4: Wavelength

Press

#46 PITCHFORK AOTY 2023 LIST ~ 8.3 Best New Music Pitchfork. Danish Zither player nominated for 'Album of the year' in Denmark for previous album 'Stikling' RIYL: John Haycock, Joe Harvey Whyte, Laaraji.

Audio & Video

BLUE LAKE - 'WEFT'

Formats

• TU11LP - LP

  4251804182621

Details

**LTD BLACK VINYL REPRESS** Blue Lake’s new offering ‘Weft’ sees its creator Jason Dungan unearth new musical terrain with a mini-album which presents the projects evolution. Finding inspiration in the craft of weaving and embracing a collective spirit as a band leader, all while readying a new studio album expected later in 2025. It follows the lauded album ‘Sun Arcs’ (2023) with Pitchfork naming it (Best New Music, 8.3), amongst numerous other accolades. Blue Lake is the ongoing musical project of American born, Copenhagen based musician Jason Dungan which serves as his artistic platform as composer and collaborator. Developed over the period of 2024 and witnessed at live performances across a swath of European cosmopolitan cities and festivals, the project stands at a new creative juncture. The earthy title track ‘Weft’ emerges with a sense of ease and familiarity as looping guitar riffs in open tunings bed in around a warm cello pulse that provides the essential heartbeat. These interlinking parts align to create his most explicit version yet of an American writing country music in Scandinavia. Dungan named the release ‘Weft’ as a reference to the weaving practice of his partner, Danish visual artist Maria Zahle, whose work “Torso” is featured on the album’s cover. With her works providing a constant source of inspiration to his music and practice as an instrument-builder, Dungan found a symbiotic connection between their mediums, which is reflected in the music on ‘Weft’. “There’s a not so subtle visual relation between the masses of strings on the instrument and the masses of thread on a loom. Weaving allows you to have an intimate relationship between the many individual parts of a piece, as well as the finished whole, and I think for me that watching her process on the loom for many years has deeply impacted the ways in which I think about music.” A unique element to the overall sound was an acute focus on first-takes and favouring instruments seldom used in previous recordings: piano, melodica, 12-string guitar. Three out of five tracks were fully or mainly recorded live, with the exception of ‘The Forest’ (originating in Andersabo, Sweden) with the rest recorded at his home studio in Copenhagen, during Winter 2023/24. Layered acoustic guitars slowly build and shape-shift, met with zither, piano, flute and clarinet flourishes. Even the faintly audible sound of Dungan’s own breathing all combines to form an endlessly morphing tapestry of shapes, forms, and colours with endless depth. Three key components form the tangible makeup of ‘Weft’ as Dungan reasserts his skills as a “songwriter”, whilst further developing his “live” practice, interplayed with the “studio” acting as a compositional space to investigate, re-shape and find final form. As we arrive at ‘Oceans’, a folk counterpart to the opener ‘Weft’ Dungan floods the listener with his own form of storytelling, but again, one told without words. Built from a single nylon guitar, some wisps of extra guitar and plucked cello bass – a narrative evolves triggering personal associations with a vast expanse. A reminder of the human strands ever present at the core of his writing. Dungan welcomes the Blue Lake band to the studio on ‘Tatara’, named after a Volcano in the Andes mountain range which became the life’s work of his geologist father. Written and developed in rehearsals for an array of upcoming live concerts; it features Carolyn Goodwin (bass clarinet), Tomo Jacobson (double bass), and Pauline Hogstrand (viola). The recorded version ended up being the very first take with the band seeking to capture an immediacy in their performance. Gathering found objects collected in the farmhouse in Sweden: metal, driftwood, a bicycle tire, Jason then added experimental percussive elements including his own handmade carved log drum, resulting in a firelit breakout that could depict a lone figure aware of the landscape’s indifference. ‘Strata’ closes the sequence with a beguiling live solo recording on a new 36-string zither, designed by Dungan and hand built by a local luthier. Its louder, richer and deeper tones ring out in abundance. ‘Weft’ is a collection of new works that casts a net into new sound territories with distinctive timbres yet always channelled through the refined lens of Dungan’s prism. Infused with an ongoing connection to nature, it furthermore expands his unique meld of off-kilter folk, jazz, country and left-field experimental ambience. ‘Weft’ then is an accomplishment of growth, of bolder objectives and of collaboration with like minds. The Blue Lake project takes a dynamic step forward venturing into new creative spaces while leaving some clues along the way.

Tracks

SIDE A:
1. Weft
2. The Forest

SIDE B:
1. Oceans
2. Tatara
3. Strata

Press

Audio & Video

LAURIE TORRES - 'APRES COUP'

Formats

• TU009LP - LP

  4251804182584

Details

**LTD BLACK VINYL REPRESS** Laurie Torres is a Canadian musician and composer raised in Montréal, Québec by Haitian parents. Since 2008, she has been a trusted stage and studio performer for Julia Jacklin, Pomme, and Land of Talk, as well as being a founding member of Folly & The Hunter, with whom she recorded four studio albums and toured Canada, Europe and the UK. In 2023, Laurie shifted focus to work on her own creations, a process of making time - the will and the need becoming omnipresent. Drawing creative inspiration from contemporary artists like Tirzah, Gia Margaret, Valentina Magaletti, Tara Clerkin Trio and ML Buch, 'Après coup’ finds Torres intersecting at a pivotal moment where artists whose marginalized identities are at the forefront in creating a beautiful array of “other options”. “Being othered and tokenized as a woman who plays music, as well as a queer and black person, takes a toll, while also positively feeding a strong urge to push and be seen.” Centering around piano, drums and synthesizer with interweaving field recordings, 'Après coup’ follows the precursor ep ‘Correspondances’ in the form of a sprawling 11-track album. Translating directly from French - afterwards, after the event - its title subliminally points at something deeper between the lines. Recorded in 2023 between tours in a small window of time where ‘normal’ life hadn't quite recommenced, Torres meticulously crafted her debut solo material in view of surrounding nature, all providing the perfect nourishment for long streams of improvisation. Built right up to the edge of a lake, Studio Wild in St-Zénon, Québec offered an unparalleled location and set up for her freeform creativity. Instrumental music seemed like a natural response and evolution for Torres who had long basked in the world of “pop music” as she elaborates: “I had an urge to use creativity as a sort of resting place, a place where things can unfold slowly and take time to reveal themselves. In other worlds words, I felt the need to make something slower, more elusive” Laurie ascends to a ‘flow state’ not dissimilar to the meditative tones of Nala Sinephro and the repeating figures of Duval Timothy. ‘Duvet’ emerges with a wide-open organ drone (Hammond B3) and stays still throughout, setting a welcoming mood. The joyful, velvety piano melodies begin to ring out before tentatively locking into a precise phrase around analogue delays that create a “breathing” effect. ‘Feux fuyants’ descends into otherworldly terrain with a burst of energy as her patterned drumming interlocks with a responding piano line fed through glitchy delays as the track folds in on itself. We return to serenity with ‘Reflets’, which moves between left and right hand piano phrases on top of an arpeggiating Farfisa synth that provides the glue and airiness. Field recordings embellish the album’s inner walls - all extracted directly from the location. Scraping, walking, singing into the air and the wind all make up its human, tangible fabric. On ‘Intérieurs’, she embraces the gifts and flaws of improvisation, leaving in an imprinted audible sigh, finding a raw beauty in the natural performance. ‘Clessidra’ insistently drives the album forwards with percussive brass cowbell tappings (one used for herds) matched with repeating piano patterns that sway in and out of sync with a surreal chorus of staggered vocal layerings. ‘Point-Virgule’ offers a delightful breathing moment ahead of ‘Correspondances’, a close relative to ‘Duvet’ stemming from a similar theme and progression. As we arrive at ‘Exit’ the pace steadies to where the piano and drums exist independently of one another, yet meeting on another latitude as if signaling the end of a conversation. With her ‘pop’ past workings never far away, Laurie artfully drifts between uplifting and melancholic hues, never overbearing or undermining one another. She plants seeds throughout and only in consuming the album in its entirety do we make sense of its seriality, as new meanings unfold where repetition and subtleties produce increasingly complex meanings. The immediacy of Torres’ recorded takes doubled with minimal overdubs create a fiercely direct, intimate and unpolished lo-fi beauty. ‘Après coup’ then is self-reflective, open and inclusive with Torres allowing herself to be fully seen. An album to be felt at close distance with unrivalled authenticity. This album stands as a testament to Laurie’s artistic evolution and serves as a beacon, inspiring her to continue nurturing her own creative pursuits and finding exhilarating freedom. “Après coup, to me, signifies that moment of conscience in the aftermath, fundamentally an experience of time, the relationship between the before and after.”

Tracks

1. Duvet 2. Lisière 3. Feux fuyants 4. Reflets 5. Int?rieurs 6. Carnets 7. Clessidra 8. Point-virgule 9. Correspondances 10. Golden t-shirts 11. Exit

Press

"Take yourself away to a nice quiet corner and enjoy this beautiful new track by Laurie Torres" - Deb Grant

"A very beautiful taster of her debut album 'Apres-coup'" - Mary Anne Hobbs

"An absolutely beautiful record" - Tom Ravenscroft

Audio & Video

PETE BENTHAM & THE DINNER LADIES - 'ART RELIGION AND CHOCOLATE BISCUITS'

Formats

• NXN037LP - LP (COLOURED)

  0615625581065

• NXN037CD - CD

  0632556093351

Details

**LTD BRIGHT GREEN VINYL W/ 4 PAGE INSERT** **JEWEL CASE CD W/ 12 PAGE BOOKLET** A gloriously off-kilter yet deeply personal record that mixes absurdist punk theatre with an unexpectedly tender dive into mental health, Catholic guilt, and the surreal poetry of everyday life. “It’s more personal than the previous ones,” frontman Pete explains, “but not in a heavy way – more like Mortimer & Whitehouse than The Bell Jar”, succinctly summing up the Dinner Ladies’ approach: taking the kitchen sink, giving it a saxophone solo, and letting it spill over with charm, wit, and a fair helping of existential unease. Parody and poignancy runs through every song. Tracks like ‘Is There Life in Rhyl?’ and ‘Holy Pictures’ explore personal trauma and social conditioning through an unmistakably British filter; Catholicism, childhood fear, seaside holidays, and haunted toilet trips included. For fans of: The Fall, The Kinks, John Cooper Clarke, X-Ray Spex, Madness, cabaret, collage, chaos, and joyfully honest punk.

Tracks

Tracklist: (A1) Shed (A2) Is There Life In Rhyl? (A3) Art Is Shit (A4)Attention Deficit Retention (A5) Mermaids In The Mersey (B1) Punks Don?t Jam (B2) It?s Okay To Be Quiet (B3) Holy Pictures (B4) Stand By Your Nan (B5) Lie Down

Press

?One of the most important bands on the scene?a much-needed dose of fun? - Vive Le Rock Magazine

?Agent provocateurs of the Merseyside underground scene?quite simply life-affirming? - Louder Than War

Audio & Video

KiF PRODUCTIONS - 'STILL OUT'

Formats

• SNDREC005 - LP

  5061041821363

Details

**SOLD OUT** “The true follow up, 35 years later, to The KLF’s ‘Chill Out’”. JD Twitch (Optimo). Recorded in a remote cabin on the Devon coast, STILL OUT is an album-length collaboration between musician-filmmakers – and childhood friends – Will Cookson and Tom Haverly. A reflection on friendship, landscape and the passing of time, it inspired a road trip from North Yorkshire to North Devon they took together in the summer of 2024, and forms the soundtrack to a film of the same name which had its premiere screening as part of Stroud Film Festival in March 2025. Like the film, STILL OUT is also an oblique homage to The KLF’s iconic 1990 album Chill Out, which the Gloucestershire-based pair revisited after it turned up unexpectedly a few years back in Tom’s dad’s record collection. Inspired to create their own recording using a similarly free-spirited process, Will and Tom relocated to the Devon coast in late summer 2023, splicing together a 40-minute mix from their personal archive of recordings and found sounds in a remote cabin with no electricity or mobile reception. "It came together using cut-and-paste techniques, with ongoing shifts and tweaks,” says Will. “The final result was an audio collage that felt like something [legendary hip hop producers] The Bomb Squad might make - if ambient music was the only material in their sample library." Using ‘ambient’ as a starting-point rather than an end in itself, they took inspiration from across the musical spectrum – classic-period Brian Eno, Philip Glass, Bill Evans, plus outliers such as 80s singer-songwriter Virginia Astley and the late DJ-producer Andrew Weatherall. The connections, though, are anything but obvious as the audio shifts seamlessly from field recordings and spoken-word interludes to mood pieces and snatches of vintage pop. Edited and assembled using freely available open source programs, the source material was often radically altered using tools such as “PaulStretch”, a digital sound-morphing algorithm that allows users to stretch audio files to extreme lengths. "When we found ourselves in a creative slump or unsure how to navigate a tricky part, we'd say, ‘Let's put some syrup on it and slow it down,’” says Tom. “That always helped us get back on track during late-night recording sessions at the cabin." Part-soundtrack, part-meditative experiment, STILL OUT is intended as a reflection on the mental and emotional shift that occurs when stepping away from the routine of daily life – an album that forms a celebration of our ever-changing relationship to the world around us and the mystery of what it means to pass through time and space.

Tracks

Side 1:

Swaledale to Blakeney Straits

Side 2:

Laugharne Estuary to Welcombe Mouth

Press

An ambient journey reflecting on friendship, the British landscape - and The KLF?s landmark album Chill Out

Audio & Video