This was the look back in 2014.
Post Enki, pre-Violet’s Gone.
I’d donned Buddy Holly specs for those few gigs too.
There were only three more solo shows (performed as Violet’s Gone) between this photo and today.
Photo credit, Thomas Nightingale (TEN Photography)
Venue; The Lab, Northampton
So, my distributor has decided they will no longer host my music on their streaming services. Their loss.
I don’t want to go too much into it (I don’t understand it), but I do have one request of my listeners and that is; if you want to hear my music, please visit the bandcamp pages below. My music will soon fall off of all other streaming sites anyway, but in the meantime plays of my music on those sites will pay other people money and not me…
The ‘[4D] Recordings’ label plan was all worth a try to attempt a unifying my projects and opening up an audience, but this event has absolutely killed my enthusiasm and momentum (again). It has been a massive personal set back. My confidence doesn’t take much to knock and this event has made me (again) question why I’m doing what I’m doing.
If you set your heart on a project, go for it, and it goes wrong – that’s one thing. That’s just life. If you go after a project because you simply think you ‘should’ be doing it or don’t know what else to do, because this is what you always used to do and it used to once bring joy…and yet now it brings you no real joy in doing it… you’ve got to question ‘why do it at all’?
I made two new albums this year and set about revisiting some old favourites from my back catalogue. The revisits and the making something new, were kinda fun. The distribution, the promotion and the ultimate rejection that has always inevitably followed, was not fun. I won’t be pursuing sales and streams any more, for sure.
If making stays fun, that will carry on, but…this concerted effort to release and provide constant content won’t be continuing. Some of my favourite bands take decades to release something new, and I will wait for them.
The next album from me was set for an October 27th release (surprise!), and that is still going to happen. The only difference being that I have to now release it myself, and it will only be available on channels I control (listed below). There will be some posts about it all in proper soon.
With that in mind…It is back to the original setup! Make an album and send it out to die alone on the internet.
My music exists on bandcamp only from now on! (It was always the superior and most supportive website anyway.)
New videos on Vimeo and YouTube.
New news stories and occasional archival material on the blog. (that’s this site!)
New pictures and stories on Instagram.
I’m sorry if this was a sad read, but I am feeling quite despondent about it at present. I think I want to make music and I think I want to still share it. In the weeklyep podcast that accompanied my Maybrain record, I stated that music should be made just to make yourself happy, and that if anyone else picks it up and likes it, that’s a happier bonus.
If you’re reading this and are a supporter of what I do, then you have my utmost thanks and appreciation for being there.
Much love
CFx
Folk and blues in the afternoon.
I really miss The Fishmarket art gallery in Northampton. It was an incredible creative space with a thriving community of creatives, exhibition pieces, small shops etc. My little involvement was in taking over the hosting of Folk/Blues in the afternoon on Sundays throughout 2011.
The cafe inside the gallery The Nook was a cool hangout and was our venue. A small purpose built stage that could comfortably fit a full band and yet manage to not look empty with a solo performer. As well as organising the event, I photographed many of the acts playing and recorded the soundboard audio a handful of their live sets too for them to use on their respective facebook/myspace/youtube channels (free of charge, cause I’m a nice guy.) I also drank ridiculous quantities of tea.
We hosted some great performers including Kings Gambit, Gregg Cave, Joe B. Humbled, Kismet Hardy, The Rogue State Circus, Aisha Daisy, Jimtom Say?, Enki, Jonny Tudor, Rozism, Stevie Jones, The Abrahams, Debbie Frayling, Corrine Lucy. Many others, I can’t list them all.
We looked set to continue with the program but sadly the Northampton county council had other plans and announced the demolition of the art gallery in place of a not-fit-for-purpose bus station (that 12 years later, still doesn’t do the job!)
The Silent Committee EP, ‘Imperfect Machines’, makes it’s debut on streaming sites from today!
If you like it enough it is still available to download from Bandcamp for a very affordable price.
If you’re the streaming kind then Spotify, Apple, Tidal, YouTube etc. will see you right.
Also as with the other releases lately, you can dance to them on TikTok or soundtrack bizarre reels on Instagram.
Imperfect Machines was the last lengthy and fully conceived/planned release from the project back in 2019. It sought to be the acoustic album, utilising no synthesis or electronic instruments – heavily relying on upright piano, viola, voice and various string instruments. The acoustic were ultimately toyed with by effects pedals and laptop maniupation, but the acoustic sounds do still shine through.
Since the release of this EP the project has lay kind of dormant, releasing tunes for piano day and odd songs here and there.
But all that will change in October. Stay tuned!
CFx
‘Maybrain‘ was an EP by my singer songwriter project Violet’s Gone.
It was the result of a challenge set by WeeklyEP presenter Cody Swanson/Noisycrane to produce a complete EP within 7 days. The podcast project he was doing started in the coronavirus lockdown in Spring 2020. Some friends of mine from the days of MySpace, Aubben Reneé and Jose Delhart were a featured artist one of the weeks and having heard their songs and some of the other artists featured on other weeks episodes, I needed to get involved. The other motivation was that Violet’s Gone II had reached a stand still in production, so being forced to drop that, write a bunch of new stuff and record it with little to no time to edit – may have just been the kick up the arse I needed.
It worked! I like to think.
Me and Cody had a great chat at length about where inspiration comes from, about alternate tuning, colour perception, LSD and P.T. Anderson movies.
The songs of the EP I think came out pretty well given the limitations, and two of the songs at least still make for regular performance at my gigs to this day.
The podcast is still available on Spotify. If you like the songs enough, they are available on Bandcamp.
Violet’s Gone is currently not present on streaming platforms, and may not be for the forseable future.
Took A Walk
This song was a real slog to make. It’s lyrics are a little cliche, for sure. The tune is simple. The repetitive refrain of ‘time to save’ was sung in four part harmony without looping or pitch correcting – I sang every single one!
It wasn’t a happy time but the song, I think, kind of pulled me through.
The EP still exists on BFW Recordings website as a free download, and the music video still resides on YouTube and below. I do intend to soon either remaster or completely re-record the song with my improved recording abilities and will probably put it online sometime on or around October 10th.
For now though, ‘enjoy’ the original in all it’s awkward and difficult glory!
The Silent Committee’s 2014 album ‘zero.’ has undergone the remaster and expanded reissue treatment.
All 10 of the original tracks have been edited to boost volume, improve dynamics and just sound better than they have ever sounded before. The reissue also compiles all 3 songs recorded for the BFW Recordings series ‘Album In A Day’ and improves their audio. There are then 2 more compilation project recordings, possibly unheard of before due to their obscurity.
As always: for purchasing the album Bandcamp is your best bet – cheapest, comes with high quality artwork and liner notes, and your purchase supports the artist directly! The Bandcamp page itself features a write up on each track individually about inspiration, instrumentation and background on all the songs makings.
If you’re more the streaming kind then please support The Silent Committee over on Spotify, Apple, Tidal, YouTube etc. Any plays and shares help us out.
If you feel like setting a TikTok or Instagram reel to these strange electronic/ambient tunes then they should be available on there too! (I’d love to see what they end up soundtracking)
CFx
Chris Fordham Music 