this is the debut EP of a project by Krzysztof Mahdrof that features sprawling soundscapes, ambiance and noise in equal measure. All this set to the slowest BPM possible.
You will need headphones.
Tracklisting:
1.
everything passes and vanishes
2.
speak my name softly after I have gone
3.
no songs but sad dirges
4.
the beam of a lightless star
***as a bonus feature of this EP, it has been arranged in such a way that if you can play all 4 tracks at the same time on four different speakers, you will create an impressive yet cohesive noise.
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.
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.
Chris Fordham Music 