Hawthonn for download

Apologies for the quiet period, we've been busy all spring trying to find a new home, hopefully the summer will find us moving in.

We decided to release Hawthonn's first album as a download as we had no joy finding a label to facilitate a physical release, although since initiating the download we've had some interest so look out for further issues in the future.

The most lovely part of releasing the music was getting such amazing feedback, I've not had a great deal of feedback on my creative output before so it was deeply overwhelming to read positive words written by such esteemed and talented people.

Here are a few excerpts and links to reviews so far;

 "Hawthonn’s success as a conceptual album can be seen in its eerie evocation of Coil’s underlying themes – ghostly sketches of possibility emerge from these sonic landscapes, a peculiar and specific spirit hovers over the work. Using what can in some sense be described as musical necromancy the Legards have created a series of sound evocations that allow the listener to embark on a mythopoetic voyage beyond the waking world. Diving deeply into the album’s compositional techniques one begins to understand the delicate process which lead to this effective evocation of Balance’s spirit" - David Metcalfe

"Hawthonn is a unique and visionary piece of music that is clearly a labour of love and is utterly heartfelt. It speaks of Balance himself and of his loss. It also evokes a rural unease and a true sense of nature at its most wild and unknowable. You need this album; this is an incredible and special work that needs to be heard and experienced. Sit beneath the Hawthonn and let the moon play you her music." - Grey Malkin

Angelystor

Nearly 2 years ago I went to Llangernyw to see the ancient Yew there: the circumstances of this visit seemed to inspire us and subtly influence our lives in many ways. Wounded Wolf are publishing Phil's book and music called Angelystor with photos by me, you can pre-order it today HERE

Where the Hawthonn Grows

The wheel keeps turning, it's a constant process of grieving and celebrating, sometimes both at the same time. The baby keeps us busy but we've had been working on a project together in memory of Jhonn Balance, who influenced us both in many ways. More music, remote psycho-geography, a pilgrimage to follow here.

Yew musings

Before I step out for a misty solstice walk, and hopefully while Simon Bradley and Phil Harding race to the Halifax Beacon in order to save Time itself, here is a link to some work my husband has been doing with recordings I made at the Llangernyw yew.

Phil is calling for participation to contribute to a 40 minute piece of (rather wonderful) music, open until January 20th, 2013.

 While considering what the voice of Angelystor might sound like, he decided that it would be an aggregate of voices of all ages and sexes – the ancestral voices of the parish.

Phil would like people (globally) to contribute to the project by sending a recording of themselves saying a name.

This could be either: “Sion (pronounced ‘Shon’) ap Robert” – a man who, local legend tells, heard his own name spoken by Angelystor, or the name of a friend, family member or hero you wish to memorialise.

 If you would like to participate, please read more at his blog, Larkfall.


We have been using the Ancient Yew resource in order to find more local old yews to visit and pay homage to, sadly the gazetteer flags up many 'lost' yews, cut down while still healthy and relatively young. Last weekend we visited Hazlewood Castle's yew, which you can see in all it's glory as the first photo in this PDF.  Sadly on our visit the tree had been pruned to just it's central trunk, losing much of the bulk of the tree.

Hazlewood Castle overlooks Towton battlefield near Aberford, a place which we seem to be gravitating towards currently. We seem to have followed the course of the Cock Beck for a while now, either through Barwick, treading ancient paths, at Whinmoor, searching for the site of Penda's last battle or at Aberford, hunting blood-stained roses.

In final, and slightly less landscape related news, I have been photographing artwork created by a dear friend named John Godbert, who is a talented archaeological illustrator, also having his art featured on a myriad of album covers (such as The Fall's Live at The Witch Trials cover). He is also a rather spectacular performer, or rather, is never seen in the same room as Herb Diamante.

His collages mix imagery of the physical; biological technicalities and planets collide, with the paraphysical, John is interested in all kinds of the surreal but some of his most striking collages involve magic and the otherworld, mediums delivering reams of ectoplasm, Crowley sitting astride K2, the Cottingley fairy images. His artwork is available to purchase from my Facebook album or alternatively, Etsy.

Almias Revisited

Phil and Simon have been busy bees preparing the Almias App for Android (!) this past few months. This reworks the music and oral history elements (which were a little overshadowed by the tour and book aspects) of the art project we conducted for the Harrogate fringe a couple of years ago.

  I had the pleasure of testing it on and off the Crag and I think it's turned out wonderfully well, the original recordings of us singing and playing were made up on the crag and this brings the piece literally to life, making a changing acoustic environment depending on your movement and location on almscliffe.

The oral history interview with the landowner is also made more coherent by placing it upon the locations referred to, I am extremely pleased and proud that P + S have breathed new life into what was already a very wonderful project.

Go here to download the app!

Mirror of Elicona

The Mirror of Elicona

I feel very honored to be one of the dedicate-ees of this beautiful work by Phil Legard - The Mirror of Elicona. Published by Hadean Press, it is a magical work relating to poetry, psychogeography, magic and romance.

Accompanying audio will be published on the Larkfall website soon!

Tutelar of the Place

The Tutelar of the Place (David Jones) by larkfall

The Sorcerers Apprentice, Leeds

It seems that Frater Marabas/Chris Bray has had some subtle but important effects on my life, despite my initial doubts about his authenticity. I had been fascinated by the burnt studded doors of the Sorcerers Apprentice shop since my arrival in Leeds some ten years ago. I chanced upon it on a midnight walk and didn't notice the faint lettering on the now defunct signage.

Four years or so on, my best friend at the time who I had just met, lived on Burley Lodge Road in Leeds just a few hundred yards away Marabas's residence. Googling the street name one day revealed to us that the sinister exterior was far more interesting than we imagined.

We pondered his existence, whether he lived there with tattered cardboard blacking out the windows, light occasionally gleaming from cracks in the upstairs window, and a padlock on the heavy doors. We debated the ethics of selling rocks collected on Ilkley moor. We eventually ordered some small items from him by mail order, and marveled at the doors whenever we passed by.

Some research revealed his previous shop had existed at Hyde Park corner, but had been firebombed by Christian extremists during the Satanic ritual abuse craze of the 80's. Chris Bray spoke openly about his beliefs and opposition to the unfounded prejudice directed towards magical beliefs at the time, which I felt was a brave and unselfish thing to do regardless of whatever stance you took on his rock-peddling. Further research revealed that he published the Lamp of Thoth magazine in the 80's, a delightfully anachronistic revival of a magazine published by the Society of Dew and Light, who operated in Keighley at the turn of the last century. One of the members of this group was Daniel Murgatroyd, whose grimoire and magical equipment were recently up for sale.

Two years ago I was introduced to the love of my life when a mutual friend was sick of listening to me talk nonsense about magic and thought it would be better directed at him. The first thing we spoke about was Chris Bray and the Leeds chaos magic scene.

Much has happened in between then and now, but we often speak of the shop and its owner. I wish it wasn't mail order only so we could visit and pay homage to the true magic of Frater Marabas, whose thread has been weaving a beautiful pattern through our now interconnected lives.