The town of Dover was without warning subjected to a march by a large group of black clad, balaclava wearing men on Saturday who blocked the roads and the port while chanting 'stop the boats', 'the country is ours' and 'England 'til I die'. Dozens of Blackshirts marching and making claim to the nation, its identity and its streets. Dangerous times we're living in.
In a quirk of coincidence just a day before this event, this album came my way via reader and friend of the blog Spencer, a reliable source of leftfield, lesser known and outré music. From The Edge is an album about Dover and one that is part of a project to see Dover differently.
From The Edge is a two track album by Richard Bundy and Anna Phoebe, each track around twenty minutes in length but made up I think of many shorter tracks. The tracks are inspired by Dover, the town, its buildings, history and atmosphere. Dover is a town on the edge, built into the cliff face of southern England, a gateway to Europe and also at times a barrier. The Dover Unlocked project, which From The Edge is a part of, is a work that is imagining and uncovering a different side of the town, its historic buildings- the castle, Napoleonic steps (the Grand Shaft) and others- and its people.
Side one of From The Edge is called The Immersion and is a blending of guitars, bass, drums, piano, a DJ, Bundy on piano, keys and synths, strings and horns and sampled voices. A twenty two minute long piece that goes through several stages, ambient and found sound sections, piano led sections and string quartet parts (that reminded me of Durutti Column's 1984 classical piece Without Mercy).
The other side, Unspiralling The Rock, kicks in with drums and synths, drones, layers of noise and then five minutes in flips the switch into the neo- classical strings again, a stitching together of experimental, classical and cinematic sounds. Half way through the band come back in and it turns into krauty cosmische before a long slow ending. Evocative, spellbinding and yes, from the edge.
You can find From The Edge at Bandcamp.
