The Otherly Geometries and Hidden Cartographies of Spectral Studio: Wanderings 24/26

“[Unsophisticated Arts told of Jones’] explorations in the 1940s of everyday art throughout Britain and which took in some similar subject matter to that in Folk Archive: fairgrounds, tattoo parlours, taxidermists, house- boats, high street shops, seaside piers and amusement arcades… Although it was intended as a recording of real life and day-to-day art, viewed now it provides a document of a fabled lost Britain; there is a certain whimsical fairytale like quality to the images of often ornately and elaborately decorated canal boat interiors, fairground rides, table cupboards etc.” (Quoted from A Year In The Country: Wandering Through Spectral Fields, 2018.)

The cover art and vinyl for Pulselovers’ Cotswold Stone album, again released by Castles in Space, the artwork for which has a notable found folk art-ish design.

In a previous post I described the album as “a rather lovely slice of gently hauntological pastorally inflected electronica (intertwined with more than a dash of traditional ‘organic’ instrumentation). It draws from Mat Handley of Pulselovers personal and sometimes hazy memories, not so much in a hauntologically melancholic manner but rather in a reflectively reverential and playful way”.

While text which accompanied the release said:

“[The album is a] meditation on the passing of time and the persistence of memory and is, in part, a reflective work of familial dedication and reverence. When taken in a single sitting these soundscapes create a strong overarching narrative that take you on a journey through the rolling hillsides of England… This is a very personal album and is an attempt to preserve the memories of a happy childhood where along with siblings and cousins, I spent a lot of time in the Oxfordshire town of Burford in the mists of time… Many of the titles are taken from road signs of towns and villages in the surrounding countryside, some of which I never actually visited but the words themselves trigger unspecific memories from those long 70’s summers: Cleeve Hill, Shipton-under-Wychwood, Bourton-on-the-Water, Stow-on-the-Wold, Bradwell Grove and Moreton-In-Marsh don’t hold any particular place in my heart (though I do remember Bourton was a great place to feed the ducks and Auntie C’s ramshackle Bradwell Grove cottage was situated within the grounds of the Cotswold Wildlife Park), but the words themselves silently echo throughout the album like vaguely familiar ghosts, like rain on hot tarmac or lavender on a summer breeze.”

Some of the artwork for Field Lines Cartographer’s The Spectral Isles album, again released by Castles in Space. The artwork hints at hidden cartographies, which reflects the album’s intriguing concept that centres around an island called Hy Brasil:

“The Legend of Hy Brasil: Situated in the Atlantic, approximately two hundred miles off the west coast of Ireland, the island of Hy Brasil featured on maps from around 1325 until the mid 1800s. Legend has it that it was surrounded in mist, appearing only every seven years. It was long thought to be the home of an advanced mysterious ancient civilisation… Although often spotted by sailors, landing on Hy-Brasil proved elusive, though the Scottish sea captain, John Nisbet reports to have made land there in 1674. His expedition describes an island of large black rabbits and a stone castle, inhabited only by a strange magician… In a strange twist, the phantom island is linked to the infamous Rendlesham Forest UFO event of 1980. After touching the craft that reportedly landed in Suffolk, USAF Sergeant Jim Peniston describes telepathically receiving a 16 page binary code text. Many years later, this code was deciphered to reveal that it was a list of co-ordinates of ancient sites around the world including the pyramids of Giza, the Nazca lines in Peru…and the location mapped over centuries as being that of Hy Brasil.” (Quoted from text which accompanied the album’s release.)

The artwork for Drew Mullholland’s Three Antennas in a Quarry album, released by Buried Treasure, the cover art for which has a mysterious geological aspect that connects with the title. The album’s artwork also features a graphic score that electronic music pioneer Delia Derbyshire sent Drew Mulholland after they became friends in the late 1990s, which provided the inspiration for the album:

“[Delia Derbyshire] couldn’t remember what it was for but dated it vaguely as ‘the late ’60s’. In his sleeve notes Drew Mulholland talks of how she had provided him with a fragment of a recipe but no indication of what its ingredients were or what the intended sound sources were. He goes on to say that in order to create the album he began to ‘sketch with sound’ after studying enlargements of the score that he had pinned to his study wall. The subsequent album could be considered a ghost-like, will-o’-the-wisp interpreting of the score, and the spirit of Delia Derbyshire’s music.” (Quoted from the A Year In The Country post “The Radiophonic Workshop, Delia Derbyshire Appreciation Society and Drew Mulholland – Sonic Archaeology and Electronic Explorations Inspired by Delia Derbyshire”.)

Jonathan Sharp’s (aka The Heartwood Institute) Divided Time album, again released by Castles In Space and about which at a previous post I wrote:

“This was inspired by a cache of faded 1970s family snapshots that he discovered and which have a particularly intriguing character – the cover image conjures a spectral pastoral sense and seems to have tumbled backwards and forwards in time and has an ‘I can’t quite place what era it’s from’ air to it.”

I’ll end this post with images from Nick Taylor’s Space Junk zine / magazine, which is possibly one of the most purely “otherly geometry” examples of his Spectral Studio work.