Hidden traditions and mysteries brought to the surface. Tales re-told. Phenomena explored and re-imagined. Cassette-based cult Folklore Tapes have been dedicated to unearthing Great Britain’s folkloric heritage since 2011 via “divinatory research, abstracted musical reinterpretations and experimental visuals.”
Now they’re expanding their reach into the realm of vinyl with the Twelve Stations 7″, out May 1st. It brings to life a project which started in Exeter in 2007 and which took in twelve train station visits over ten days as part of an extended field trip. At each station both a thirty second sound recording and a thirty second photograph were taken and compositions were sketched out during each train journey, influenced in turn by the things observed and overheard whilst visiting each station.
These scores were later recorded with The City of Exeter Railway Brass Band in an evening during their weekly rehearsals and have since been re-mastered and presented here for the first time as a seven inch record.
Folklore Tapes say; “Although the creation of Twelve Stations was largely as a result of chance occurrences and fleeting sensory perceptions, earlier echoes may be heard in the recordings of Basil Kirchin, with his aural portraits of places and people (as well as his various library music releases), minimalist works such as Philip Glass’ score for ‘Koyaanisqatsi’ and Steve Reich’s ‘Different Trains’, and in the sense of loss that permeates William Basinki’s ‘Disintegration Loops’ and ‘The Sinking of the Titanic’ by Gavin Bryars.”
The release comes as a limited edition seven inch vinyl; screen printed, hand stamped and numbered sleeve, 8 page booklet and ‘train ticket’ download card in envelope.
Pre-order it from the Caught by the River shop here
Listen to a track here;
Folklore Tapes will be joining us at Port Eliot festival this year . You’ll find them in a tented installation beside the boathouse where, amongst other things, they will be telling the story of Theo Brown and the Folklore of Dartmoor.
Visit their site here