by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

For his third solo album, Hayden Thorpe has relocated. Until now the former Wild Beasts singer has been closely linked with his home town of Kendal, but, having fallen under the spell of Robert Macfarlane’s book Ness, he felt compelled to write an album about it.

Ness is effectively a portrait of Orford Ness, just down the Suffolk coast from Aldeburgh. A deeply mysterious place, it is a shingle spit used by the Ministry of Defence for weapons development during both World Wars and the Cold War. As the work died out so the place has returned to the wild, and was acquired by the National Trust to aid that very purpose.

It remains a deeply mysterious place, and Macfarlane’s book, aided by the illustrations of Stanley Donwood, brought it to eerie life in print form. Thorpe aims to do the same in music, using a process of redaction to bring Macfarlane’s text to life.

What’s the music like?

In a word, striking.

Thorpe’s voice continues to be the main instrument in his music, a versatile tenor capable of a full-bodied falsetto but also with a soft lower range. Yet here it is joined by an imaginative body of instruments led by Jack McNeill’s clarinet, with which the voice often dovetails, and beautiful choral arrangements from Kerry Andrew. Added to these are instruments fashioned from Orford Ness itself, including the ominous sound of an orchestral bass drum, whose tread brings dread to The Green Chapel.

Robert Macfarlane’s words are gripping. “Listen. Listen now. Listen to Ness!”, goes the text at the start of They, one of several gender-themed songs at the album’s heart, along with She and He. All three are perfectly suited to Thorpe’s voice, which effectively removes the separation between the human and natural worlds, while channelling the half light so effectively found by bands such as Talk Talk.

Does it all work?

It does – and rewards greater time spent with the music, as every contour of the area is brought to life.

Is it recommended?

It is. Hayden Thorpe’s portrait of Ness is a fascinating and compelling experience, one to hear in the context of Benjamin Britten’s music that profiles Aldeburgh in such a vivid way. Thorpe brings every fascinating and ghastly element of Ness to the table, in music of great presence and character.

For fans of… Talk Talk, Brian Eno, Erland Cooper, Benjamin Britten

Listen and Buy

Published post no.2,343 – Saturday 26 October 2024