On Record – Various Artists: Staying (Leaving Records)

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by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Emmett Shoemaker writes profoundly and eloquently in the documentation to this release, penned on 13 January – detailing the heartbreaking story behind Staying. Masterminded by Leaving Records head Matthewdavid, this is a massive compilation of 90 tracks released to benefit those whose lives have been wrecked by the “heretofore unimaginable destruction in the land we now call Los Angeles.”

Shoemaker wrote, “The wildfires that began on the morning of Tuesday, January 7th—and which are still raging—are, in scope and intensity, unlike any other disaster, natural or manmade, in the city’s living memory. Thousands of homes destroyed. Twenty-four lives lost at the time of writing (that number will almost certainly rise), and innumerable lives forever altered. The devastation arrived suddenly, and has persisted over the course of a punishing and surreal week.”

Later, he details the heartbreak suffered. “The individuals and communities affected in this moment are numerous and varied, but it is the case that Los Angeles’s musical community has been absolutely upended. The Palisades fire, with its reach into older parts of Malibu and Topanga Canyon, and the Eaton fire, in its virtual erasure of Altadena, have affected some of the only areas in Los Angeles where working musicians could live with a modicum of comfort—Though, as we are all too aware in this moment, precarity has always been part of the bargain here.” Later still, “Leaving Records in particular has deep roots in Altadena. Label founder MatthewDavid cut his teeth printing J cards at a home operation in the neighbourhood, and countless Leaving artists reside in the area. Many of these artists have either definitively lost their homes or are currently waiting to learn their fate. The path to rebuilding (how long it will take, what it will cost, whether it is even feasible) remains terribly unclear.”

Finally, “Seeking to supplement the numerous GoFundMes and the profound, often harrowing acts of mutual aid that are currently buoying recovery efforts, and in lieu of donating to a third party organization, all proceeds will be donated directly to impacted individuals. 50% will be meticulously,  manually allocated to Los Angeles artists and music colleagues in need, as equitably as possible. We will be referencing existing music community aid spreadsheets / documents already circulating, alongside a succinct internal list of those affected in our immediate community. The other 50% of funds will be allocated to displaced Black families and community impacted by the fires, again, as equitably as possible.

Personal and collective healing, ecological recuperation, spiritual transcendence, radical communality — these concerns are woven into Leaving’s roster and catalog. Never in the label’s history has it been so called upon to celebrate and implement these principles. Though we may not even know what “hope” constitutes yet, we know we’ve got it somewhere. We know it’s in solidarity, and we know it’s in the music.”

What’s the music like?

To say this is a generous offering from Matthewdavid would be a massive understatement. $15 buys you a digital album crammed to the brim with 98 tracks, including luminaries such as Laraaji, Julia Holter, Peaking Lights, Steve Roach, André 3000 and of course Matthewdavid himself. Vinyl and cassette options are also available.

The compilation may be sprawling but the standard remains incredibly high throughout – and it is a moving experience listening in the context of what these artists have had to deal with.

Highlights that Arcana has plucked illustrate the sheer musical variety of what is on offer here. They include the appealing oscillations of Xyla, the soothing ripples of the harp on Beyond Beyond from Earthtones with Shelley Burgon, or the melodic sweeps of Arushi Jain’s California, that feel like exclamations in the wake of the fires.

Charlene’s Mantra, from V.C.R., is a subtle call to arms, while by complete contrast MIZU offers an extended and immersive ambient track, The Course Of Empire. Baths and More Eaze are playful, Eddie Chacon’s Fate is an intimate confidential, while Sweatson Klank offers hope in the dreamy Find Our Way Back. Peaking Lights are typically mesmeric, Honeydrip exuberant, and Laraaji’s Joyous Dance ’82 full of bright and positive energy.

Ohma’s Live at LTMOITDUAT 10.14.23 has vibrant duetting saxophones, the instrument then fluttering gently on the thoughtful Matters Of Time from Anenon. There are good grooves, too, notably Automatic’s Mq9 and Jon Makes Beats’ The Mountain. Freeform tracks come from Matt Baldwin and Spencer Zahn, contrasting with the wall of sound offered up by Ryan York. The shimmering and rather magical Brijean track Strange Times takes the form of a live dubby workout, while lively percussion infuses Café Ale’s 60 W Palm. Aisha Mars’ Song For My Father. Toucan’s Stay is a carefree electro number, a polar opposite of Tate EC’s Wings, with its feathery outlines.

Does it all work?

It does. This is such a wide range of music, embracing fast and slow, colourful, stylish, ragged, improvised and processed. All for a meaningful cause!

Is it recommended?

Without question – it’s a no-brainer.

Listen / Buy

Published post no.2,443 – Wednesday 12 February 2025

On Record – Tunng: Love You All Over Again (Full Time Hobby)

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by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Tunng have enjoyed 20 years’ existence as a band, in which time their musical philosophy has remained constant. They might ask themselves ironically on Everything Else, “why do we do this?”, but their particular brand of music continues to spread its peculiar brand of warmth.

The band have always tended towards ‘switched-on’ folk music – that is, lyrics that find a common ground over glitchy, electronic loops and beats, with curious field noises and riffs that seem initially harmless but burrow into the listener’s brain.

Love You All Over Again celebrates all that and more, harnessing everything the band loved about their debut LP, This is Tunng… Mother’s Daughter and Other Songs, feeding in the experience gained in two decades and – typically – putting it through a slightly skewed blender.

What’s the music like?

Still very Tunng – which is, of course, a big compliment. The band have retained their singalong choruses, their quirky but meaningful lyrics, the bits of open air recording and processing that lead the ear this way and that, messing with perspective as they suddenly pan out from close intimacy to a stone’s throw away and then back again.

Unexpectedly tender moments cast a spell too, like the softly played guitar motif of Didn’t Know Why, which cuts to a wistful, singalong chorus – until suddenly you realise what the lyrics are, the familiar character of the murderous Jenny brought back amid lengthening shadows. Sixes is a satisfying blend of acoustic and electronic, but Snails shows how the group’s aptitude for new colours remains as keen as ever, its lovely clarinet and pizzicato strings an ideal match. Drifting Memory Station creaks and whirs, casting a sleepy spell as its mechanics grind lazily together.

The band’s vocals are still an ideal match, Becky Jacobs complementing Sam Genders and Mike Lindsay as the three main protagonists. They sing together rather movingly on the haunting Laundry, against a backdrop of chattering electronics and tender woodwind.

Does it all work?

It does. Tunng have an appealing mix of confidence, vulnerability and darkness that blend together in sounds that can move between rousing choruses and mildly horrific confessions.

Is it recommended?

Enthusiastically. In their own way, Tunng are national treasures, and have a corner of the interface between folk and electronic music all to themselves.

For fans of… King Creosote, Efterklang, Beta Band, Stereolab

Listen / Buy

Published post no.2,442 – Tuesday 11 February 2025

On Record – C Duncan: It’s Only A Love Song (Bella Union)

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by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Glasgow songsmith Chris Duncan moves seamlessly onto his fifth album, his second for Bella Union.

“I love the idea of something being so romantic that it almost hurts”, he says ahead of the modestly-titled opus, which is something of a family affair. Described as a ‘song suite’, it celebrates marriage with his long-term partner, but also reflects on times of stress and loss. The latter is expressed in symbolist terms on Triste Clair de Lune, where Duncan writes a “song about the moon losing a part of itself that floats down to earth, and this exquisite light being found by humans. And all the stars above lamenting the loss of this light.”

The family connection extends to his parents, both classically trained string players, who helped realise most of the lush orchestrations.

What’s the music like?

Once again, C Duncan delivers windswept pop music of the highest quality. Clearly borne of personal experience, his writing tugs at the heart strings with its powerful yearning, expressed through the beautiful soft timbres of his vocals.

This is immediately apparent in the title track, but also Lucky Today, a song of heartfelt sincerity. The sense of loss and hurt can be felt but ultimately these songs are uplifting and reach upwards in wonder, as on Sadness, where the lyric “dry those weary eyes” is set to positive melodic thoughts. Worry is an absolute beauty, softly delivered but far reaching, its harmonic shifts melting the hardest of exteriors and its multilayered vocals a true chorus of angels.

It is amazing how a song like Think About It is not a radio staple, for Duncan harnesses the best of 1980s soft rock while adding some extra twists and turns along the way, with unexpected harmonic sleights and lush orchestration. Delirium brings more urgency to the vocals, while Surface could even be a big Tim Burton show number, with its swirling chorus and textures. Duncan wraps up with iTime And Again, a twilight epilogue of serene beauty and swooning orchestral forces.

Does it all work?

It does – another volume of winsome songs, beautifully delivered.

Is it recommended?

It is, enthusiastically – but with the proviso that if you haven’t heard the music of C Duncan by now, you really should get to know it. Not just this album, but the four before it.

For fans of… The Blue Nile, Prefab Sprout, 10cc, Brian Eno

Listen / Buy

Published post no.2,441 – Monday 10 February 2025

Switched On – Sunroof: Electronic Music Improvisations Vol. 3 (The Parallel Series / Mute)

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by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Daniel Miller and Gareth Jones’ Sunroof project is proving to be both productive and enriching. This third volume was released late in 2024, a collection of nine tracks is recorded using the duo’s Eurorack modular systems, building on the self-imposed restrictions they had imposed in 2021.

The pair delve into their electronic archives for material, using a TEAC four track machine picked up by Miller in the late 1970s, used for The Normal’s Warm Leatherette and here powering the track Splendid.

What’s the music like?

Consistently inventive and intriguing. Splendid is the first track on the album, and it crackles into life before the pair apply a booming bass sound. The music is simultaneously graceful, with some elegant outlines, and edgy in mood, a trait running through the album.

Brotherly flickers, the music behaving as though heard in a flash of memory, a half-heard dance repeated in another room. Ensnare has a kind of rolling percussion, liked processed steelpans, exhibiting a strong rhythmic thread that runs through the album. Stratus teems with activity, like an insect colony, then Freezer starts like a Philip Glass organ piece, given rolling bass as accompaniment. Earthen has friendly chatter like a 1980s game, while by contrast Link goes low in range, like a big cricket. Meanwhile Conspiracies carries a latent threat, evoking memories of Cabaret Voltaire.

Does it all work?

It does. The freeform approach that Miller and Jones take is consistently engaging and engrossing, and the musical ideas are teeming with life.

Is it recommended?

Very much so…with evidence on this third instalment that Sunroof are only just getting into their stride. More instalments of this series would be welcome, for the musical chemistry between the pair is evident.

Listen / Buy

Published post no.2,440 – Sunday 9 February 2025

Arcana @ 10… Musical moments: Loscil

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As part of Arcana’s 10th birthday celebrations, we invited our readers to contribute with some of their ‘watershed’ musical moments from the last 10 years.

Editor Ben Hogwood, after much consideration, has chosen a piece of immersive ambience from the Pacific coast.

“Getting to know new music is one of life’s joys – but it does bring with it a danger that the listener does not return to their successes as often as they might or should do. When I was thinking through my musical highlights from the last 10 years it was difficult to bring one specific artist or event to mind. There have been several from my work elsewhere, writing for musicOMH – discovering Bruce Hornsby’s new direction, or following the music of Erland Cooper and its Orcadian connections. Western classical music has provided some memorable moments too, few more so than Sir Simon Rattle conducting Mahler at the BBC Proms.

Yet the one I settled on for Arcana’s 10th anniversary is a thread running through the site’s whole decade, my love of the extraordinary music of Loscil. This is the alias used by Scott Morgan, a Canadian who lives in Vancouver, British Columbia – and whose music is like none other.

Perhaps it’s the fact I have been to Vancouver on several occasions, visiting relatives, that I feel such a strong connection to Loscil’s music. But there is something primal about it that really tugs not just at the heart but at the very fibre of our being, a connection formed between music and the earth. It is the deepest ambience you can imagine in music, an extraordinary achievement when you examine the relatively simple tools used in its construction.

The best example for this is the third section of the Equivalents album from 2019 – a timeless wonder that is deep as the ocean, as wide as the sky. There are clouds on the horizon, and the music paints all these and more in its extraordinary span.

In a memorable interview for Arcana, Scott summed it up. “There is a way of using the creative process and the creation of music to express that which you can’t express in other ways, and that’s what ends up coming out a lot of the time.” Later he noted, “a lot of my work accidentally plays with the spectrum between the natural world and the industrial world…ultimately I think I’m after some sort of balance of what it is to be human, and what it is to be human inside of this natural world we live in.”

I saw Scott perform this music live, at Rich Mix in the heart of Shoreditch – and it was only seconds before we were transported away. In my head I was stood on a beach at the far west of Vancouver Island, experiencing the weather with all its primal force.

You can listen to the album on Tidal below:

Published post no.2,439 – Saturday 8 February 2025