LP & 70 page book
Folklore Tapes commission a reimagined soundtrack for Richard Foster's 1969 cult short, The Watchers, enlisting contributions from eight Yorkshire musicians - Dan B-Hill, Julie 7:12, Thorn Wych, Mark S Williamson, Radiophoric Labs, Bridget Hayden, Sam McLoughlin and Edd Sanders. The film, up on the BFI Player if you're inclined to investigate, is a psychological horror of the unknown, based around the visions of a young girl that no-one but her seems to be able to see. It's a classic device that explores the duality of fear - we're as haunted by what we imagine and how we respond to that invention as we are by what is actually there. It's primed ground for an exploration of England's hidden reverse sonics, these eight musicians drawing upon various elements of trad. folk, post-industrial gloom, chamber song, psych-prog inflections and Radiophonic Workshop electronics in ways that are appropriately psychoactive, dissociative and hauntological. Apparently an interpretative stage show has also been devised to coincide with the endeavour, which shows great commitment to the bit at the very least, though the music works in beguiling and compelling ways alone on its own terms. Interest in the arcane ephemera of paganism and the varying horrors of the countryside seems to be at at an all time high atm (sales of Weird Walk in tactical wear shops in Coals Drop Yard seem to provide evidence of that alone), but what Folklore have done here feels a level or two more elevated on from that. Despite the dark subject matter, this feels like a project built on genuine love! Special edition with 70 page book.
