Summer EP

Have had a rather good summer, and just as it departs, here is what I have been working on for the last two months, a new 'Summer Sabbatical' EP: http://dreamcargoes.bandcamp.com/album/summer-sabbatical-ep

Admittedly, quite a few of the backing tracks are quite old; but they were worthy of finishing off and flesh out. They struck me of summer, too. Only tracks #3 and #4 originate at all recently. The lyrics are all August 2010, with 'Do Real Men Cry?' edging into this new month.

There are resonances of much of what I've been reading: Ted Hughes' poetry, H.C. Andersen's 'The Snow Queen' (and W.H. Auden's reflection on it), Raymond Williams' "Culture and Society". Two of the best films I've seen all summer are sampled - prizes to who can name them!

Again, I am very interested in listeners' feedback... I think this marks something of a transitional EP - and I want the next to be different in feel. I aim to record everything from scratch for the Autumn one; this one felt at times like a reckoning with the past, necessary in order to move forward.

My trips to London and Keswick inform the spirit of this record, plus the fine people who have contributed to it being such a good time - thank you all.

Dream Cargoes

This is not product placement as this isn't designed as product, but something to freely download. No profit is sought; if a single person enjoys it that is sufficient reward.

http://dreamcargoes.bandcamp.com/album/mayhem-in-spring-ep

I'd be interested in what people think. Dream Cargoes is an attempt to make inorganic, avant-pop music. In terms of influences: obviously JG Ballard (from whose short-story the DC moniker is taken), the Real Tuesday Weld, the Clientele, Oddfellows Casino, Darren Hayman, Arthur Russell, Ghost Box records, Mordant Music, Bark Psychosis, Pet Shop Boys. You might hear echoes of Neu!, Brecht/Weill and even Frippertronics (conjured on a Roland Juno-D synth), in 'The Springtime Stomp', which as it evolved demanded a near-10 minute length. Of course this is all an amateur's attempt at conjuring music that matches the above; I am under no illusions that I achieve what I aim to, but hopefully I create something different. Something that people not looking for the run-of-the-mill might just like.