THE NIGHTOWL SINGS - 1955

Released July 2016. TOR53.


Marc Gillen - Vocals, Acoustic & Electric Guitars, Bass & Field Recordings.

Stephen Benson - Acoustic, Electric & Slide Guitars, Bass, Piano, Sound Collage & Echo Machine.

David Thompson - Vocals on "Down Terrace".

Jill Wallace - Bass on "Driven to Dust" and Vocals on "Down Terrace".


Recorded at home and mixed by Alastair Popple at The Kitchen Sync June and July 2016.

Produced by Alastair Popple.

Photography by Marc Gillen. Artwork by Marc Gillen and Alastair Popple.

Made at home.

TOR53.
 

BROCKEN SPECTRE

TOR52. Released June 2016.

01. Stockholm Cancelled
02. Polish Girls
03. Colour Fucker
04. Skylite Walkers
05. Skye
06. Beyond Nostalgia
07. Walking Ghosts
08. (In) Dreams

Sometime in early 2015 myself and Ste got to thinking it would be fun to form a band where we could both play loud abrasive guitars together.  This meant recruiting a new drummer and bass player, so the word got out and eventually after some wrong turns we got the right people in the right place, enter Mike on drums and Jill on bass. Songs were plucked out from The Nightowl Sings and Dead West songbook to get the fire started, it was exhilarating to hear some of these songs take on new forms and sounds, endless possibilities coming back at you from the intensity of the shared passions of four people playing hard and loud in a small room. Of course, it wasn't long before new songs appeared and gradually they took precedent and a new songbook flowered.

As the year spluttered to a close, the rehearsals became more frequent and the playing and arrangements became more adventurous and the sound took on a coiled elasticity that took in punk, shoegaze and noisy indie rock. Our ears were bleeding and on a good night the songs would fly. At around the same time we moved to a new home, a loft space above a vintage bazaar shop, which was packed with art, furniture, clothes, pop art memorabilia, records and other curious artifacts. It really did feel like home and and it provided a wonderful setting for the band and new friendships to blossom. There was talk of us doing gigs out of town, but we never seemed to pin any details down, and the talk remained just that.

So we began recording as we always do, building on the first song we had put down at my house in October called 'Skylite Walkers' a wonky, skewed jem which never quite settles down in its bursts of feedback and punchy choruses. The recording process proved to be difficult, and even though we were well rehearsed the act of being tied down to the restrictive nature of recording proved deflating and frustrating for some.

Despite this, the songs continued to show their strengths and we persevered. Over several weeks the basic tracks and overdubs took shape and with some wonderful input from Al in post production, the songs eight of them, realised their full potential, forming a cohesive but varied mini album, packed with barbed melodies, energy and loft space noise. Ste as ever provided great artwork and photography for the release, and as i listen to the opening song 'Stockholm cancelled' call to arms i am reminded of the joy we shared, and how cold winter nights were warmed by the songs we created and the friendships we shared. - Marc.

WE ARE THE WOODEN HOUSES & LORÉN CLARE - (UNEXPECTED)

TOR51. Released June 2016

01. Standing Still/Departure and Arrival
02. Spine Fin/The Carcass
03. The Brown G/Out of the Woods
04. Slow/Burn
05. Death and Horses/Ashes and Passion


It's been almost nine months since the last TOR release; the last few months have seen new methods, new sounds and new collaborations.

The first of these collaborations to be released is '(unexpected)' by We Are the Wooden Houses & Lorén Clare.

The beginnings of this set began last August. The first of three improvised sessions provided the bulk of the material; after discussing performing and recording, Lorén and I decided to improvise some music and put it to tape. Autoharp, Bass, Percussion and various effects were used and a date was set for further sonic explorations. The next session saw the recording of a performed sound collage and the final session more autoharp and percussion recordings.

The week after these sessions had been concluded, the next project began. 

Not wanting to postpone inspiration, the sessions with Lorén were put to one side as further recording began.

Al revisited these tracks a few weeks after the initial sessions and began re-sculpting and re-composing.

In January, Al and I decided to have a final improvised session for additional sounds. This was performed with shamisen, violin and effects.

The hazy sounds of the evening weave in and out of new ambient soundscapes created by Al from sounds on the recording, distorted and effected beyond recognition. The sound veers between live improvisation and drones created from the ambiance with some tracks being wholly created from heavily treated samples.

It took Al a few months, on and off, to conclude the reconstruction of these recordings, ensuring this spook folk, ambient, found sound and avant garde project made sense; to ensure this trip had the right trajectory.

The artwork also demanded patience and experimentation to get right. I had initially met with Lorén for a photo shoot, and some of the images from that day are featured in the artwork. An extremely limited box set edition is also accompanied by a set of ten prints of photographs taken by myself and Al throughout 2015 and 2016. In this special edition, the tracks are spread over three 3" compact discs and are housed in a wooden box. The regular edition comes in a jewel case with two randomly picked images from the set of ten.

As always, there is a free download and limited physical copies for purchase over at Bandcamp.