KiF Productions are a two man team based in Devon who have recorded a homage to The KLF's legendary ambient house masterpiece Chill Out. The update is titled Still Out and transplants Jimmy Cauty and Bill Drummond's imaginary journey across the American south to a British road trip from North Yorkshire to North Devon the pair took in 2024. Tom and Will recorded Still Out after finding a copy of Chill Out in Tom's dad's record collection and put it together in a remote cottage in Devon, with no internet or mobile signal. They created an ambient audio collage, cutting and pasting found sounds and musical sounds, inspired not just by The KLF but by Philip Glass, Brian Eno, Andrew Weatherall, The Bomb Squad, Bill Evans and Virginia Astley. It's out at the end of the month, two long tracks either side of a record (the vinyl is long since sold out but the digital is available).
The first is Swaledale To Blakeney Straits, a long ambient drone and the pips from the radio, a female voice wafts in and there's some crackle, a haze of ambient bliss, everything happening slowly. Organ. A finger picked acoustic guitar, birdsong. An excerpt of Richard Burton reading Under Milk Wood. More haze, more slow guitar notes. Then a car door opens and the engine starts and we're off, on the road...
As in Chill Out there are trains passing by, the car waiting at a level crossing. Warbling and more drones. It's a very British sounding road trip, back roads through the countryside, all the while the ambient drone bathing everything in a warm light. Also as with Chill Out Elvis turns up. After quarter of an hour the ambient synths push to the fore, a gentle wordless choir and chanting voice make their way in, a flute appears and some very Sabres Of Paradise drums clank in, a rattling metallic echo. We shift through different phases, the journey south soundtracked by bubbling water and descending chimes.
Side two/ track two is Laugharne Estuary To Welcombe Mouth, more wild birdsong and the car's tyres on the road, engine turning over, more Burton reading Dylan Thomas, gulls... then a bassline, some piano jazz and a sax, bleeps and whooshes, drums, double bass and a warm electric guitar for a minute or two, more drones, sunshine breaking though clouds...
Still Out is more than just a homage to a thirty five year old album, it stands alone in its own right, two inventive and ever changing pieces of sound collage. There are films too to accompany the sounds, shot from inside the car. Everything can be found at KiF Productions' Bandcamp page.
No comments:
Post a Comment