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SL Walkinshaw - 'Tape/String' LP (limited to 100 copies)

£20.00
  • SL Walkinshaw - 'Tape/String' LP (limited to 100 copies)

Limited to 100 copies, reverse board card sleeve, black vinyl housed in polybag.

‘Tape/String’ was spawned by Stuart experimenting with cassette tapes in his possession from across the decades. The results - as presented by ‘Tape/String’ - are at once haunting, hypnotic and enveloping. Sonically and creatively Walkinshaw’s musical instinct draws in from the same pool as inspires William Baskinski, Liz Harris, Keiran Hebden and Christian Fennesz. Using field recordings, analogue ambience and acoustic instruments to create an ambient soundscape that at once feels familiar and new - at times uncanny and always textural. There is a natural calm and clarity that is soaked into the tracks, as well as a personal history; utilising found recordings of family members in tracks such as ‘Metachrist’ and ‘Lights Out’.

“In more recent years my musical output has become more of personal therapy; utilising sound as a platform of escapism and self-expression,” he explains. “When I began the project the world was halfway through 2020 so an element of escapism became pretty self-evident.”

Using a four-track recorder, loops were improvised using an array of stringed instruments, found sounds, field recordings of cities and nature, and toy keyboards. Additional elements were also extemporized in real-time, retaining the meditative influence on the composition. “There's always a naturally mantric element when working with looped materials. I started to feel a parallel between the textural development of the improvised loops and ruminating thought.”

‘Tape/String’ serves as a peaceful yet experimental refuge from a torrid 2020 - drawing influence from the turbulence of the year and reflecting back a 10-track meditation on time, life, death, memory, nature and the abyss.

Released April 09 2021. Pre-orders shipped to arrive on release date.

10 songs, 39 minutes.

Tracklist:
A1 A True Friend
A2 Forest Floor
A3 'Love Theme' From Jesmond Dene
A4 Slept Away
A5 Heavy Metal
A6 Metachrist
A7 Tokyo
A8 Newbiggin-by-the-Sea
A9Lilac
A10 Lights Out