St Kenelm's - The Sapperton Sessions EP | Dead Space Chamber Music

St Kenelm's - The Sapperton Sessions EP

by Dead Space Chamber Music

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hello swirl In their own special way, DSCM has a feel of channeling Nico and darker, stripped down drone/jam elements of The Velvet Underground or early Sonic Youth - truly a pleasure to hear.

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Cassette + Digital Album
Cassette with on-body printing, presented in a j card design with black and clear case, within a beautiful outer slipcase. Comes with a 30 page monochrome photozine, silk card and matt finish on the covers. It shows the making for the recording, and includes song lyrics, an introduction to the tracks, and the supernatural tale of St Kenelm, a young martyr saint of Saxon England associated with prophetic dreams.

Photozine design and photography by Tommy Creep and Ellen Southern

Note the photozine may have some very minor distress marks due to courier handling when they were delivered

Includes unlimited streaming of St Kenelm's - The Sapperton Sessions EP via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
Digipak CD with 30 page monochrome photozine, silk card and matt finish on the covers. It shows the making for the recording, and includes song lyrics, an introduction to the tracks, and the supernatural tale of St Kenelm, a young martyr saint of Saxon England associated with prophetic dreams.

Photozine design and photography by Tommy Creep and Ellen Southern

Note the photozine may have some very minor distress marks due to courier handling when they were delivered

Includes unlimited streaming of St Kenelm's - The Sapperton Sessions EP via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

ships out within 7 days

3 remaining

£12 GBP or more

1.	O Virtus Sapientiae 08:57	lyrics	buy track
O virtus Sapientiae, Quae circuiens circuisti Comprehendendo omnia In una via, quae habet vitam. Tres alas habens, Quarum una in altum volat, Et altera de terra sudat, Et tertia undique volat. Laus tibi sit, sicut te decet, O Sapientia. O strength of Wisdom Who, circling, circled, Enclosing all, In one life-giving path. Three wings you have: One soars to the heights, One distils its essence upon the earth, And the third is everywhere. Praise to you, as is fitting, O Wisdom.
2.	Lachrymæ 10:36	lyrics	buy track
Flow, my teares, fall from your springs, Exiled forever, let me mourne; Where night’s black bird her sad infamy sings, There let me live forlorn. Down vain lights, shine you no more, No nights are dark enough for those, That in despair their lost fortunes deplore, Light doth but shame disclose. Never may my woes be reliev’ed, Since pity is fled; And teares and sighs and groanes my weary days, Of all joys have depriv’ed. From the highest tower of contentment, My fortune is thrown, And feare and grief and pain for my deserts, Are my hope, since hope is gone. Hark! You shadows that in darkness dwell, Learn to condemn light, Happy, happy they that in hell, Feel not the world’s despite.
3.	Black Desert 10:07	info	buy track

about

"Celestial dark britannica...a folk horror masterpiece of heightened tension, cloaked in the eerie rituals of this strange island...this is exquisite ambient chamber goth of the highest order" RwdFwd rwdfwd.com/products/dead-space-chamber-music-st-kenelms-the-sapperton-sessions/

"Achingly authentic in its production,‘St Kenelm’s...' is a veritable tour de force of medieval vocal traditions, 11th century religious chants and stunning improvisation. Dead Space Chamber Musicare are a band out of time: fresh, ancient and relentlessly innovative, they embody the transportive power of music with each understated release." - Louder Than War
Full review by Kate Cherrell: louderthanwar.com/dead-space-chamber-music-st-kenelms-the-sapperton-sessions-dark-choral-folky-medieval/

"A group that so skilfully unmoors historic music from its traditional boundaries, marshalling modern techniques to make the familiar newly mysterious" - Art Muse London
Full review by Adrian Ainsworth: artmuselondon.com/2020/12/12/past-presence-dead-space-chamber-music-and-kate-arnold/

"To listen to Dead Space Chamber Music is to be transported from the here and now, their connection to the past is strong and they take us with them every time. What's been captured here is amazing...[they] are a unique band, and The Sapperton Sessions cements their reputation as one of the UK's most interesting and innovative bands." - Kodak Ghosts Run Amok

"This is magnificent. The voice is incredible, and the arrangements are just perfect. Oh people this is a wondrous release, and well worth your attention...buy it now" - Dave Kirby, Satori Industrial

About the tracks:
1, O Virtus Sapientiae 8:57
A reinterpretation of a chant by Hildegard Von Bingen, 1098-1179

2, Lachrymæ 10:36
An improvisation following a tradition found in hymnody, where the melody combines two songs - the words of one set to the tune of the other. The songs in question are Flow My Teares by John Dowland (1563-1626) and Je Vivroie Liement by Guillaume de Machaut (1300-1377), both of which feature on the debut album, Dead Space Chamber Music.

3, Black Desert 10:07
A semi-composed improvisation around the half-whole diminished scale. Integrating Ellen’s vocal field recordings as additional atmospheric textures, the piece has been gradually developed and shaped through live performances over several years. The vocals are an improvised glossolalia, with Welsh inflections.

Dead Space Chamber Music
St Kenelm’s: The Sapperton Sessions

The Sapperton Sessions were recorded in May 2019 in the atmospheric setting of the medieval church of St Kenelm’s, in the tiny rural village of Sapperton, Gloucestershire.

St Kenelm’s is nestled in a picturesque graveyard, full of ivy-covered headstones and ornate stone tombs. The heavy wooden doorway to the church is approached through a tree-tunnel of looming dark yews - the experience of which evokes ancient myths and dark fairy tales.

The church dates back to the 13th century, itself integrating an earlier 11th century building. It is thought that prior to this it was a pre-Christian sacred site, which only deepens and amplifies the intense feeling of the place. The interior is remarkable for its many ornate statues, and for its abundance of dark carved wood. Together with its ancient stone and large leaded windows, St Kenelm’s harbours a beautifully warm acoustic, which the band leant into deeply, allowing it to augment and ‘speak back’ their sound.

The recordings were made in a 'live session' set up, with cello (Liz Paxton), guitar (Tom Bush) and voice (Ellen Southern) playing together and responding to each other in the moment (note that this recording pre-dates the addition of Katie Murt on drums / percussion to the band in early 2020). All three of the resulting pieces blend form with improvisation, and the stillness and intimacy of the space lent itself to this process perfectly. Tom Berry (recording / editing / mixing) set up an entire mobile studio in the church, complete with 'reel to reel' tape recorder. The analogue aesthetic perfectly captures the rounded live-ness of the sound, and careful listening reveals not only the sound of the tape machine ‘rolling’ but also the occasional ‘pop’ of the idiosyncratic church electrics.

The ensemble took residence for 2 days in the church, allowing visitors in between takes, including a group of hikers from Belgium, who were intrigued to say the least! A local wedding party just up the road also popped in one evening for a listen to some playbacks. They had been made curious by the eerie and uncanny sounds emitting from the church and being carried on the wind through the village.

This release has an almost site-specific quality in that it is so much about the dialogue between the sound created and the space it rang through. The band hopes that feeling reaches out to the listeners too, immersing them in this vivid document of a very special time and place. This feeling is only stronger now. With the covid pandemic affecting everyone’s lives, and music-making in general, this recording feels even more like a glimpse into another world.

credits

released December 4, 2020

Guitar, sampler – Tom Bush
Cello – Liz Muir
Voice, vocal field recordings, sound-making objects (broken ceramics, stone on serrated knife) – Ellen Southern

Produced, engineered and mixed by Tom Berry
Mastered by Callum Godfroy
Executive produced by Chuck Berry
Artwork and design by Tommy Creep and Ellen Southern

Thanks:
Doug Hemmingway (Trianglecuts) for great mixing notes
Kate Gunthorpe for joining us as we discovered many rural churches

Special thanks to the Churches Conservation Trust who care for St Kenelm’s, and so many other unique sacred buildings. Special thanks to Ed McGregor, Patrick Joel, Helen Booker, and to local volunteer Elizabeth for assisting with accessing the building and being so welcoming.

A dontation to the CCT will be made from the sale of this album.

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about

Dead Space Chamber Music Bristol, UK

Press enquiries: zoheb@qabarpr.com
Bookings: mail@ellensouthern.co.uk

"A beating dark heart of pure dream-drama and past rituals - easily one of the best live acts Bristol has to offer" RwdFwd

"Fresh, ancient and relentlessly innovative, Dead Space Chamber Music embody the transportive power of music with each understated release." Louder Than War

Photo:Katie Murt Photography Design:Tommy Creep ... more

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