Monday's Long Song

I found this on Twitter at the weekend, a three track release by The Leaf Library (about whom I know nothing except they are from North London and make what they describe as 'looping drone pop and occasional space rock'). The opening track, Glass Factory, is made from a field recording in September 2020 of the Fornace Mian glass workshop in Venice by band member Stuart Fowkes. There is noise from the factory, glass being made and blown and whatever else they do in a glass workshop, the voices of the workers, a thumping rhythm which may be a machine from the workshop but sounds like a drum, some twinkling melodies and a lovely hazy drift, nine minutes of it. At points the voices sound like they could be singing or it could be sounds layered over the voices, all shaped into an ambient/ found sound blur. Get it at Bandcamp. The second track, Glass Version, is a little longer, more ambient and doesn't have the thump of the rhythm. The third, Factory Version, is the reverse- the thumping sound, the heartbeat of the glass factory, pumping on and some repetitive rhythmic noises, clattering machines, steam or gas being exhaled and in the background behind the rhythm the return of the melody. It's all very impressionistic but also weirdly specific.