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DEAD LIGHT

Bill Fay

Still Some Light: Part 2

    Bill Fay has always sung about attempting to understand the most universal questions: those of nature, spirituality, humanity. His songs are “calming hymns for another chaotic time,” he says. His influence can be traced through many artists’ works, so it only seemed right to celebrate this with a collection of newer voices interpreting his timeless tracks.

    Originally released in 2010 by David Tibet (Current 93), ‘Still Some Light’ was issued as a double CD, made up of 70’s album demos (Disc One) and 2009 home recordings (Disc Two). This year, for the first time, this collection of recordings will be pressed to vinyl as a double LP with reimagined artwork, presented alongside contemporary reimaginings of the tracks by Julia Jacklin and Mary Lattimore. Bill Fay’s words and melodies remain unaffected by the passing of time and changing trends; and here alongside the original recordings, these reinvented versions still calmly guide us through another moment of chaos.

    Bill Fay

    Still Some Light: Part 1

      Bill Fay has always sung about attempting to understand the most universal questions: those of nature, spirituality, humanity. His songs are “calming hymns for another chaotic time”, he says. His influence can be traced through many artist’s work, and so it only seemed right to celebrate this with a collection of newer voices interpreting his timeless tracks. Originally released in 2010 by David Tibet (Current 93), Still Some Light was released as a double CD, made up of 70’s album demos (Disc One) and 2009 home recordings (Disc Two). This year, for the first time, this collection of recordings will be pressed to vinyl and released digitally, presented alongside contemporary reimaginings of the tracks by Kevin Morby, Steve Gunn, Julia Jacklin and Mary Lattimore. Bill Fay’s words and melodies remain unaffected by the passing of time and changing trends; and here alongside the original recordings, these reinvented versions still calmly guide us through another moment of chaos.

      Bill Fay’s Still Some Light was originally released on compact disc as a two CD collection in 2010. Reimagined with new artwork and available for the first time ever on vinyl, Dead Oceans is pleased to present Still Some Light Pt. 1, collecting Fay’s archival recordings from 1970 and 1971. Many of the songs are intimate sketches which were eventually re-recorded for Fay’s self-titled debut and for his landmark album, Time of the Last Persecution. This double LP set includes heart wrenching versions of some of his timeless works, such as “I Hear You Calling” and “Pictures of Adolf Again”, and features equally powerful songs like “Arnold is a Simple Man” and “Love is the Tune,” which only appear in this collection

      TRACK LISTING

      SIDE A: 
      1. Plan D
      2. Sing Us One Of Your Songs May
      3. I Will Find My Own Way Back
      4. Love Is The Tune
      SIDE B: 
      1. Backwoods Maze
      2. The Sun Is Bored
      3. There's A Price Upon My Head
      4. Time Of The Last Persecution
      SIDE C: 
      1. Pictures Of Adolph
      2. Tell It Like It Is
      3. Release Is In The Eye
      4. Dust Filled Room
      5. I Hear You Calling
      SIDE D: 
      1. Laughing Man
      2. Arnold Is A Simple Man
      3. Just To Be A Part
      4. Inside The Keeper’s Pantry

      Dead Light

      Remixed

        Following on from their self-titled debut album and live show at FLOAT’s Piano Day, Dead Light return with a four-track remix EP, crafting originals ‘Sleeper’, ‘Falling In’ and ‘Trills’ into potent and thoughtful re-imaginings. New FLOAT signing Andrea Belfi joined the duo during their well-received appearance at Piano Day for an improvised performance. He comes back into the fold, opening with his version of ‘Sleeper’, a haunting, driving hymn. It’s vamped with full reverb, wide open spaces and rolls forward with sparse and purposeful drum work. Rafael Anton Irisarri aka The Sight Below twists ‘Sleeper’ into a club-focused anthem - warm synth programming melds seamlessly into the angelic vocals. The textures are lush and the contours soft. Border Community’s Luke Abbott takes the EP once again into another direction, moving away from the A-side’s blissful grandeur and into darker waters. On a glitchy trip hop footing, Abbott’s wearied and sombre take on ‘Falling In’ draws the listener closer into its tensed distortions and synth modulations. Closing the EP, Dead Light do their own remix of ‘Trills’. As if an epilogue, or afterthought to the original, the pair exercise their hand at ambient, reining in the tempo to provide a gently swaying reverie. As the track builds quietly and dreamfully, flowing piano ostinati and strings spill into the canvas to finish.

        Dead Light was created after Anna Rose Carter and Ed Hamilton moved from London to a quiet, remote space in the countryside. The migration out of the sprawling metropolis to their new rural refuge was a transition that significantly impacted them both and one that continues to turn and shift under the ambivalence of change, loss and new beginnings.

        The reality of this new setting is an apposition between the quaint and serene nature of their new life and the dislocation from the lives, people, places and culture that they left behind; two conflicting sentiments that co-exist in a somehow beautiful, bitter-sweet relationship. Dead Light is the tension between these two states, a textured and imperfect dream world.

        Recorded at Pie Corner between September 2014 and May 2016, the eponymously titled debut album from Dead Light is a tender, ambient exploration of hope, escape, tension and isolation. Rooted in traditional instrumentation and a handmade approach to effects and synthesis, Dead Light’s music draws upon classical, ambient, pop and electro-acoustic influences. Waves of melancholy stretch through every track, with slow yet expressive melodies that sing from tape-looped cello motifs and an old close-mic’d piano that Anna’s grandfather gave her, yet the feeling of hope never seems to be far away.

        Distant and reflective yet intimate and emotive, Dead Light’s sound is characterised by a plethora of analogue artefacts ranging from tape delays (via daisy chained reel to reel machines), homemade synthesisers, old Russian microphones and 1950s tube pre-amps, as well as contact mics and hydrophones.

        Elements of their textured sound can be attributed to their experimentation with treated tape (warped in various ways via prolonged exposure to sunlight, vinegar solutions, microwaves and washing machines), hydrophones (placed in ice trays and allowed to freeze and thaw) and most noticeably, piano preparations (hand-muting strings, screwdrivers, coins, felt, using the soundboard as a plate reverb, etc). Other experimental techniques can be found in ‘Sleeper’, for example, which utilises the layering of looped and treated voice, or in ‘Broods And Waits’ which uses experimental timbres of stringed instruments and drone-like backdrops.

        ‘Falling In’, the first track they wrote after their escape from London, is a great example of their sound, involving the textural exploration of Anna’s old piano coupled with Ed’s emotive tape treatments and loops.

        11 tracks in total, the ‘Dead Light’ album is an exploration of ambivalence, a sonic ethnography that contemplates a personal narrative of transition and identity. Joining the likes of Matt Dunkley, Ben Chatwin and John Matthias, Dead Light’s first album is released on the London-based Village Green label.

        TRACK LISTING

        Blooms
        Slow Slowly
        The Ballad Of A Small
        Player
        Falling In
        Sleeper
        In Red And Red
        Trills
        Broods And Waits
        Little Blue
        Pale Fire
        Outpour


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