Seasonal Sounds

It being now but a few short hours to Hallowe'en, this seems an opportune occasion to tell of an intriguing discovery indeed, courtesy of the good offices of the sagacious Mr Simon Reynolds, whose divine Blissblog maintains its position at the coolest point of the cultural zeitgeist: come with me, if you please, on a journey through time & cyber space, to the remote northern English village of Clinksell, isolated upon the misty moors, & where one may find the Blank Workshop & the strange but wondrous goings-on therein.

Populated by an eccentric cast of stylish, sophisticated & somewhat arch personages, amongst the productions emanating from the workshop is the latest CD of the Moon Wiring Club’s music, ‘Shoes Off and Chairs Away’, very recently purchased & much recommended, not least as a pleasing object in itself, the disc being accompanied by a handsome booklet introducing one to various other aspects of the whole ‘Blank’ aesthetic, of which the front cover & reverse of the casing provide a tantalising glimpse:

One gets the picture: nostalgia is in the air, the retro stylings of the graphic design also serving as a visual analogue to the collaged method of the music where, to mostly languid, trip-hoppy beats overlaid with sometimes brooding basslines (& an occasional bossa nova) & recurring electronic melodic motifs (classic Minimalism as an element within the Cubist framework), fragments of disembodied voices (clipped, plummy, sometimes hammy, enunciated English ones of the type heard upon the BBC Home Service or 'Afternoon Plays' on the Light Programme of the past) manifest themselves, unsettling, eldritch, before echoing into the mysterious ether of the atmosphere generated.

The air is that of the soundtrack to psychological parlour games, played upon the unwitting victim by those of superior, sophisticated wit, characterised by sly humour & simmering menace, or of being lost in woods patrolled by eerie, wooden-masked figures, an overall spookiness, otherness, of the supernatural: one is reminded of Tales of the Unexpected (& the visual aesthetic recalls such a period, of the 60s - 70s as influenced by earlier styles, a very English mix of, e.g. Art Deco & the Victorian-Edwardian), of Hammer Horror in its milder manifestations, &, more recently, certain aspects of the Royston Vasey of The League of Gentlemen. All in all, visually & sonically, its such a beautifully realised conceptual whole, a fabulous conceit, complex & rewarding.

One's first thought upon listening may suggest early Boards of Canada as a general point of reference or departure, but (& an interesting coincidence occurs here, given my recent mention of them), Cabaret Voltaire lurk significantly in the background too, with their similar 'Radiophonic Workshop' aesthetic, their sampling of found voices - especially 'proper' English ones - & the uncanny sounds that create an atmosphere of unsettling mystery, of the inexplicable, of something or things 'out there': Moon Wiring Club seem almost to exist in a space - & a place all of their own (i.e. Clinksell, of course!) - between the Cabs & the Boards, but ultimately the effect is a singular one.
I was also put in mind of DJ Shadow's mighty 'Entroducing', its magic enduring, employing perhaps a similar sonic aesthetic of an electronic cut-&-paste technique & vocabulary of samples, loops & minimalist motifs, although the idiom is of course completely different: his sound is unmistakably American, urban, & the Moon Wiring Club/Blank Workshop's is quintessentially English & provincial-rural, if of a highly refined & sophisticated, 'knowing' nature.

But why not avail yourself of & be seduced by the 'little night music' so generously offered as a taster, of both 'Shoes Off and Chairs Away' & the equally intriguing preceding album 'Art Deco Eyes'.

Aside from the music, further examples of the Blank aesthetic include a periodical, book design & even a range of tempting Scrumptytons sweets, again perfectly, delightfully referencing the history of design & redolent of a lost, disappeared time in English socio-cultural life.

The Ideal Tiger contributes a wide-ranging post on the subject of Moon Wiring Club & the Blank Workshop, eloquently stated, introducing a number of fascinating theoretical cultural issues, not least the concept of 'hauntology' (via the always excellent k-punk), & goes on to term MWC most wittily & succinctly as 'haunted house music' (hence its particular topicality).

Something else I happened to notice, by way of strange, perhaps spooky coincidence, is the presence of a cat - that weird creature - lurking amongst the visuals accompanying both the Moon Wiring Club CD & 'Entroducing'...

Happy Hallowe'en!