Archives for posts with tag: chris fordham

Memory #14

07/11/2023 //
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Kismet Hardy were an excellent new folk group from the Northampton – Kettering area. They played a mix of traditional and original folk music and were regulars at acoustic evenings in the county and further afield. I was a big fan and would invite them to play my Folk In The Afternoon gigs at The Fishmarket Art Gallery and Nook Cafe. Having shared stages with them numerous times we got to discussing recording. Back around 2010 time my recording setup was minimal and lo-fi to an extreme! We recorded a 5 song EP in a mixture of my student room and various band members houses. The setup was an AXL mixer and a passive AKG microphone directly into a laptop headphone socket…how the recording sounds as good as it does is a mystery. For one thing, it’s the musicianship and songwriting that elevates this session.

My favourite of the songs we tracked was ‘May Song’, which fortunately still lives on an old SoundCloud account from when I was making a go of recording projects around Northampton. The song begins on a pair of Jon Delaney’ guitars before Kate Beresfords vocals lead in. After a verse the rhythm section of Rai Clews on cajon, and Kevin Ward on fretless bass power in alongside a flute solo. On this particular song I only contribute a backing vocal and the recording setup and mix. Elsewhere on the EP I would play violins and additional percussion.

I would love to hear more of this band again, their SoundCloud page is still active and I’ve been thoroughly enjoying revisiting their songs this evening. ‘Wasps Nest‘ was always a favourite: (I’d have made sure we recorded it if it had been written before our sessions).

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Categories Chris Fordham, Fishmarket Art Gallery, Folk In The Afternoon, In The Studio, Kismet Hardy, Live, Nook Cafe, Other Projects/Collaborations etc., Production

City Of Reflections

03/10/2023 //
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The new album is entitled ‘One Day The Sadness Will End, But I Don’t Think Today Is The Day…’ and is due to be released on October 27th exclusively through the projects BandCamp.

See above the video for the lead single ‘City of Reflections’.

The single will be available to download for free on Friday October 6th and includes an extra non-album track!

The album will do all the usual TSC stuff – instruments played, sampled, broken and oddly arranged in a minimal, ambient fashion. It’s been a stop start few years in the making, but overall I’m happy with the result.

Subscribe to the blog here and/or follow @ 4DRecordings on instagram for more news on the album release as it happens.

Much love.

CFx

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Categories In The Studio, Release, The Silent Committee, Uncategorized

Imperfect Machines.

15/09/2023 //
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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

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Categories Archive, BFW Recordings, Chris Fordham, Release, Silent Committees Music, The Silent Committee

‘The Missing’, now on streaming services

18/08/2023 //
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As the title would suggest; the debut album from The Silent Committee, ‘The Missing’ is now available on a multitude of streaming services and storefronts!

Spotify. Apple. Youtube.

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)

This will be the remastered audio and extremely expanded version (more than twice the length of the original release).

A reminder that the Bandcamp page is still THE place to buy it from as it is the most affordable and is formatted in the way CF intended it to be seen. The bandcamp pages for each song also include write ups about the inspiration and instrumentation.

Hope you’re enjoy the recent run of [4D]Recordings releases and rereleases.

As a spoiler of sorts, there is at least one more definite NEW release coming later this year. Keep yer eyes peeled and hit the subscribe button for the newsletter or follow the Instagram.

CFx

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Categories Release, Silent Committees Music, The Silent Committee

Memory #3

18/07/2023 //
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The 2nd album by The Silent Committee was originally released via BFW Recordings back in 2010.

It has now, at long last, been delivered to streaming platforms (Spotify/Youtube/Apple/Tidal) and digital storefronts to hopefully reach a new and wider audience. As always, the Bandcamp website provides the most affordable option of purchase (FREE! in this case, although if you feel like donating £1 I’d be extremely grateful, it helps me keep making music.)

This album is still one I’m very proud of over a decade later. I poured my heart into its making and tried to create a story in the changing mood of the record. The title and opening track is a slow, full, meditative thing that then leads into a more stark and harsh rushing beat and descent over the next few tracks. Towards the close it all becomes a bit more hopeful and alive. I talk about it a little more in this interview clip from ‘BBC Radio Northampton’s: Weekender Introducing’ programme from the time.

A few details about the album recording and promotion

A bit like the debut album, I was still very much learning the craft of home recording and as such, some of the sounds are a little strangely mixed by todays standards. Again, like 2008’s ‘The Missing’, the album is comprised of 4-track cassette tape recordings, dictaphone microphones, mic’d laptop speakers and digital manipulation. The netlabel community I became involved with and the musicians I met and worked with as a result of this release, are something very important to my musical development.

The album didn’t have any artwork until the day before release. I was a uni student and lived opposite an arts and crafts shop, so I crossed the road, bought a canvas and a bunch of watercolour and oil paints. I am not a painter. The version of the artwork that appears on the original releases cover is a macro photograph of the canvas taken whilst the paint was still wet…the canvas still hangs above the piano in our kitchen to this day.

‘Staring At The Sea’ as a title was simultaneously a reference to ‘The Great Below’ by Nine Inch Nails, and was also a nod to the greatest hits album by The Cure, ‘Standing On The Beach,’ an LP I had on constant repeat. The seas themselves are also amazing, if a little overused, metaphor/similie/allegory that you can get lost in. Visits to the coast also inspire me greatly as I look out across the water and often photograph the waves.

‘Staring At The Sea’ the song, was also the 1st song performed live as The Silent Committee. It was the only album track played at all three shows to date and would almost certainly feature in the future if I’m ever invited to play this music live again.

Anyway, I hope you’ll enjoy revisiting the record with me.

CFx

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Categories Archive, BFW Recordings, Release, The Silent Committee