Shadow Quarter

Mark Peters has made some of my favourite records/ music of the last few years. Back in 2017 he released Innerland, an album of ambient/ instrumental guitar music built on the psychogeography of north west England. It was followed by two more Innerland albums- a fully ambient/ drumless version and a remix album. In 2022 Mark released his second solo album, Red Sunset Dreams- the guitars and synths shifted the landscape from Wigan to the expanse of the grasslands of North America, although I got the feeling that these were prairies of the mind as much as the real ones. Dot Allison sang on two of the tracks including the single Sundowning, a beautiful guitar- led lament which also came with a pair of Richard Norris remixes. In 2023 he put out the EP The Magic Hour which shifted the psychogeographic angle to the Balearics and to Cologne.  

Sundowning was also released as an eight minute live version, Mark backed with a band, recorded at The Band Room, North Yorkshire. All of Mark's solo back catalogue is available here. 

Mark's back with an EP called Shadow Quarter. He's put the guitars aside for most of the eight tracks and moved to piano and keys. The EP opens with Sunset Pulse, an upbeat cosmische piece of music, piano chords, drums and shakers. Motion Code goes further into the West German psyche, throbbing motorik bass and drums and more pianos and keys. Third track Headlight Nocturne is slower, more reflective, a pitter- pattering drum machine, gentle electric piano and washes/ waves of synth. Title track Shadow Quarter goes back to the cosmische with ripples of synth, a slowed down drumbeat and piano topline, sounding like the soundtrack to a journey. 

The second half of the EP is ambient versions of the four tracks, the drums removed and the Eno/ Cluster feel even more to the fore. It's a really engaging EP and highly recommended. You can listen/buy at Bandcamp.