(This review first appeared in issue #63 of Shindig! magazine.)
Clay
Pipe Music LP
As London town
continues to morph ever more rapidly into structures of steel and
glass, the ghosts and echoes of its past are still there for those
prepared to listen. That's the thinking behind this album from Clay
Pipe Music's founder Frances Castle. With a palette of Mellotron,
vibes, sequenced Moogs and viola courtesy of The Left Outsides'
Alison Cotton, The Hardy Tree paint a musical elegy to the Smoke's
lost landmarks, both big and small.
Interspersed with
recordings of market street hawkers, running water, church bells,
creaking doors and the sound of building work, this collection of
instrumental pieces is uniquely affecting and owes a lot to music
made for music for schools and colleges TV programmes in the 1970s.
Imagine Nick Drake trying his hand at strange, spooky electronica.
Hauntological library music that will have you falling in love with
the city and its history all over again.
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