As I’ve spoken about before, I’ve had a fair amount of trouble finishing albums recently. I am very happy to announce that this is no longer the case, and that the wealth of material recorded between the start of 2018 and the start of 2021 is all organised and ready to go. They will form a very loose trilogy of Enofa albums, connected by time of recording, the kaleidoscopic range of styles on each album, and general themes of town and country: these are albums inspired by places I’ve been in my life, rather than imaginary landscapes or romanticised pastoral imagery. The first, All Roads Lead to Polesworth, is out on 5th March on Third Kind (who previously released Seltrac). The second, Ancient Brickwork / Botanical Gardens, will follow a month or so later on New Motion (who previously released Holosphere). The final album is called Underwater Infrastructure, and label details are to follow.
The relief at getting these complete has been enormous, and the completion of the second inherently led to the completion of the third: once I realised that I had the material to make these hugely varied but narratively consistent albums, it all fell into place. You’ll find jungle next to acoustic guitar ambient next to acid techno next to abstract sound collage, and accepting that the albums would be so varied put my mind at peace.
Elsewhere, there are collaborative projects waiting to be released, which I’m hoping will be around at the end of the year. First is an album by Vast Sound Enclosure Project, an ambient techno/IDM project with my long-time collaborator and friend Tim Dwyer, aka Off Land. The fifth Winter of the World album is also complete, entitled Yindeed River, and we’re pitching that to labels right now. The sixth is about two-thirds complete, and will tie up pretty much every listenable morsel in my catalogue. For the first time in as long as I can remember, I now have no electronic material lying around without a suitable home. It’s a blank slate.
And I’m using this opportunity to finally get to work on new Curse of Kevin Carter songs. I have a notebook full of lyric ideas and I’m hoping to get writing in the coming weeks, with a plan to start work on an album in the spring. I’m currently planning to re-record a handful of my favourite tracks I’ve already released lo-fi versions of, as well as these new songs, and get them all recorded and mixed in a much more polished fashion, with the hope of one day in the not-too-distant future (Covid permitting) expanding the project into a proper band that plays some shows and things. It’s something I’ve been planning for 12 years so it’d be nice to actually get around to.
I just got an exercise bike and am hoping to get my body back into better shape over what I’m hoping will be the final months of lockdown. There’s not too much else to report at the minute. Currently listening through a lot of interesting ECM albums, as well as excellent new releases by Lande Hekt and Illuvia.
I hope you’re all well. x
enofa 