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HIS NAME IS ALIVE

His Name Is Alive

Hope Is A Candle - Home Recordings 1985 - 1990 Volume 3

    For the past couple of years the Disciples label has been exploring the early tape archives of Warren Defever aka His Name Is Alive, a wealth of home recordings that he amassed whilst growing up in suburban Michigan, prior to signing to 4AD in the late 1980s.

    These records have charted the development of their sound over 3 roughly chronological volumes - All The Mirrors In The House in 2019, Return To Never in 2020, and we're now bringing the trilogy to a close early in the new year with third and final volume, Hope Is A Candle.

    Pressed once again as a limited edition clear vinyl LP with no banding and a printed inner sleeve with sleevenotes by Mike McGonigal (author of books on My Bloody Valentine, Galaxie 500 and noted for his publications Chemical Imbalance, Yeti and Maggot Brain), alongside beautiful photos from the Defever family album, the whole package designed by Studio Tape Echo. Please note the first two LPs are now sold out and we don't expect this latest volume to be in stock for very long.

    Alongside the LP there is also a 4CD boxset that anthologises the whole series. A disc for each album in the trilogy, plus a bonus disc which collects together the best tracks from a series of mail order cassette companion volumes that Defever compiled to go alongside each LP - 6Teen OK, Return Versions and Ghost Tape EXP, and a 36 page book. This is also limited to 1000 copies worldwide and won't be re-pressed. 

    TRACK LISTING

    A1 Princess
    A2 Either
    A3 Coldless
    A4 Liadin
    A5 Disappear
    A6 Never
    A7 Pass

    B1 Nearby
    B2 Salendro
    B3 Porter
    B4 Still
    B5 Halo
    B6 Insiders

    His Name Is Alive

    All The Mirrors In The House: Home Recordings 1979 - 1986

      Transcendental tape loops and bedroom ambient dream states from the teenage mind of Warren Defever aka His Name Is Alive. ‘All The Mirrors In The House’ is the first of three projected releases of very early works by the Detroit-based savant, prior to signing to 4AD in the late-1980s.

      With help transferring ageing cassettes and annotating the results from Shelley Salant of Tyvek, the unearthed results are revelatory - a gorgeous sequence of gently decaying tone float made with an incredibly primitive DIY set up.

      As Defever recounts in the liner notes: “By age ten, I had a tape recorder and was using it to capture the sounds of nearby lakes, thunderstorms, and my older brother’s LP collection played at the wrong speeds. As a teenager, I got deep into all kinds of music - punk, new age, blues - and played bass in the high school jazz band, as well as studying Bach chorale harmonization and counterpoint. My first album consists of rhythm tracks made of loops of the next door neighbour raking leaves and shoveling the driveway with echoey guitars and vocals with lyrics about ghosts.”

      Innersleeve essay and interview by Mike McGonigal, the founder of Chemical Balance magazine and YETI publishing and the author of acclaimed books on My Bloody Valentine and Galaxie 500.

      For fans of Eno’s Ambient series, William Basinski, Kranky Records.

      His Name Is Alive has had over a hundred releases since their first cassette in 1986. His Name Is Alive spent 13 years recording for the legendary label 4AD and sold over 100,000 records, toured the world, received gold and platinum records for soundtracking Tom Cruise’s nervous breakdown in the movie ‘Jerry Maguire’ and collaborated on two short films with famed animators the Quay Brothers and name-checked by David Bowie as one of his favourite artists.

      Warren Defever continues to live and work in Detroit - he has recently recorded ‘Universal Eyes’ for Lower Floor Music and is one of the engineers heading up Third Man’s recently opening mastering studio.

      TRACK LISTING

      Piano Rev
      Lliadin
      Something About Hope
      All The Mirrors In The House
      Because Piano
      Rememory
      Tape Sound
      Guitar Rev
      Fine As Feathers
      Reflection Pool
      Equally Divided
      Tape Slow
      Outside The Window
      Echo Lake
      F Choir


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