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The Black Hours

by Dead Space Chamber Music

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hello swirl
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hello swirl Like Velvet Underground sacrificing Enya in an English castle and her ghost slaughtering the lot of them and cursing them to stay eternity with her as a band. I.e. totally awesome, and distinctly doomy jam-laden and ritual, rather than pop riffing.

Reviewer silliness aside, this is a beautiful and cohesive composition.
Nickie Harte Kelly
Nickie Harte Kelly thumbnail
Nickie Harte Kelly This offers a nod to the Black Plague era, in reference to our own pandemic, utilizing a slight variation of the canonical hours to link the pieces. The music is mostly very dark, reinterpretations of early music, at times reminding me of some of Hildegard Von Bingen’s more experimental and jarring pieces. Sometimes jarring, and sublime, and often a bit disturbing, this is a work that is sonically fascinating. The band reworks some traditional pieces to great effect. Favorite track: Bryd one Brere (Bird on a Briar).
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  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      £7 GBP

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Semi-transparent turquoise vinyl. Cover art with old-gold highlighting.

    Comes with a full colour booklet taking the listener on a journey through the visual world of The Black Hours. Inspired by a medieval devotional 'book of hours' of the same name, an intimate hand crafted manuscript marking The Liturgy of the Hours, or The Office of the Dead - prayers to take a soul in need from from dusk to dawn, and through the darkest of nights.

    Richly illustrated around a series of 'miniatures' - highly symbolic diorama-style band portraits, potent with secret messages and hidden meanings. The sequence of three images firstly show a pre-pandemic DSCM, moving to lockdown, and emerging into the strange and unsettling world we currently find ourselves in.

    Full colour, with detailed mixed media artwork (hand-drawings, collage and photography) throughout, printed on matt finish thick paper. Luxury 'softened leather-feel' textured cover. 12 pages.

    Co-released by Dead Space Chamber Music & Avon Terror Corps

    Includes unlimited streaming of The Black Hours via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ... more
    ships out within 7 days

      £20 GBP

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Digipak CD with 6 panels of artwork. Full colour. Matt finish.

    Comes with a full colour booklet taking the listener on a journey through the visual world of The Black Hours. Inspired by a medieval devotional 'book of hours' of the same name, an intimate hand crafted manuscript marking The Liturgy of the Hours, or The Office of the Dead - prayers to take a soul in need from from dusk to dawn, and through the darkest of nights.

    Richly illustrated around a series of 'miniatures' - highly symbolic diorama-style band portraits, potent with secret messages and hidden meanings. The sequence of three images firstly show a pre-pandemic DSCM, moving to lockdown, and emerging into the strange and unsettling world we currently find ourselves in.

    Full colour, with detailed mixed media artwork (hand-drawings, collage and photography) throughout, printed on matt finish thick paper. Luxury 'softened leather-feel' textured cover. 12 pages.

    Includes unlimited streaming of The Black Hours via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ... more
    ships out within 7 days

      £15 GBP or more 

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Digipak CD with 6 panels of artwork. Full colour. Matt finish.

    Includes unlimited streaming of The Black Hours via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 7 days

      £10 GBP or more 

     

  • Cassette + Digital Album

    Cassette with full colour on-body printing, full colour J-card in matt finish with 1 extra panel of artwork. Complete with full colour outer O card.

    Comes with a full colour booklet taking the listener on a journey through the visual world of The Black Hours. Inspired by a medieval devotional 'book of hours' of the same name, an intimate hand crafted manuscript marking The Liturgy of the Hours, or The Office of the Dead - prayers to take a soul in need from from dusk to dawn, and through the darkest of nights.

    Richly illustrated around a series of 'miniatures' - highly symbolic diorama-style band portraits, potent with secret messages and hidden meanings. The sequence of three images firstly show a pre-pandemic DSCM, moving to lockdown, and emerging into the strange and unsettling world we currently find ourselves in.

    Full colour, with detailed mixed media artwork (hand-drawings, collage and photography) throughout, printed on matt finish thick paper. Luxury 'softened leather-feel' textured cover. 12 pages.

    Includes unlimited streaming of The Black Hours via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ... more
    ships out within 7 days

      £13 GBP or more 

     

  • Cassette + Digital Album

    Cassette with full colour on-body printing, full colour J-card in matt finish with 1 extra panel of artwork. Complete with full colour outer O card.

    Includes unlimited streaming of The Black Hours via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 7 days

      £8 GBP or more 

     

1.
2.
Bryd one brere, brid, brid one brere, Kynd is come of love, love to crave Blythful biryd, on me thu rewe Or greyth, lef, greith thu me my grave Hic am so blithe, so bryhit, brid on brere, Quan I se that hende in halle: Yhe is whit of lime, loveli, trewe Yhe is fayr and flur of alle Mikte ic hire at wille haven, Stedefast of love, loveli, trewe, Of mi sorwe yhe may me saven Ioye and blisse were were me newe Translation Bird on a briar, bird, bird on a briar We are born of love, love to crave Blissful bird, on me have pity Or dig, love, dig thou for me my grave I am so blithe, so bright, bird on briar When I see that handmaid in the hall She is pale of limb, lovely, true She is fair and flower of all Might I her at my will have Steadfast of love, love so true From my sorrow she may me save Joy and bliss would wear me new (renew me)
3.
Ion I 03:38
4.
Wel dyma ni'n dwad Gyfeillion diniwad I ofyn am gennod i ganu Os na chawn ni gennad Rhowch wybod ar ganiad Pa fodd mae'r 'madawiad, nos heno 'Does genni ddim cinio Nac arian iw gwario I wneud i chwi 'roeso, nos heno Translation Here we come Dear friends To ask permission to sing If we don't have permission Let us know in song How we should leave tonight I have no dinner Or money to spend To give you welcome tonight
5.
Ion II 04:16
6.
Dies Irae, dies illa The day of wrath, oh on that day Will dissolve the world in ashes Death and nature, they will marvel Oh when the creature will rise again The guilty judged, oh spare them God Lacrimosa dies illa (tearful will be that day) On which from these embers I rise again My heart crushed in ashes Pie Iesu Domine Oh, merciful Jesus Grant them rest
7.

about

THE BLACK HOURS
The Black Hours, the upcoming second studio album by Dead Space Chamber Music, digs deep into the unsettling and disorienting experiences of the last year or so, confronting and embodying many emotions — from boldly visceral to achingly tender, with a very human thread running through the whole work. The songs themselves show the breadth of the group’s scope in terms of influences and approaches — material that is hundreds of years old being brought to (new) life, with soul-stirring and tender melodies rising to dramatic doom-laden highs via avant-garde and experimental techniques.

The album is a collection of 7 interlinked songs, each heralded by the tolling of a bell to mark the ‘hour’. They were created sequentially: the first song was created pre-lockdown, the last song was created post-lockdown, and the 5 in between were recorded in August 2020 at The Premises Studios, London, by the ‘fifth member’, Tom Berry, who recorded their OEIRA EP while still a student in 2018 and who they have worked with ever since. He understands how the group like to record — all together in a live room, where they can see and directly respond to each other — something important for the semi-improvised sections of their music. He also contributed creatively to the final result, for example reamping the cello and guitar through vintage amps and expertly applying analogue delay to the bowed cymbal on Ion.

The Black Hours was begun in late 2019 and was completed mid-way through 2021. The way that the album carried the band through the strange journey of the pandemic resonates with the theme and visuals of the album. The entire record is a reference to a medieval illuminated manuscript of the same name, a unique and intimate book of prayers to mark The Liturgy of the Hours, or The Office of the Dead — with prayers to mark the hours from morning to evening and all through the night. Created between 1460 and 1475, The Black Hours is hand-scribed on black vellum with real gold, silver, and at the time more valuable than either of these — turquoise pigment. The idea of marking time, especially dark times, this way appealed to the group — the focused contemplation of prayer being akin to the focus of creating and crafting music.

credits

released December 3, 2021

The Black Hours comes 03rd December 2021 on CD, cassette, and digital formats.
Vinyl (turquoise semi-transparent coloured), co-released by Dead Space Chamber Music and Avon Terror Corps, is expected to be shipped in Spring 2022

Line up
Tom Bush: Guitars, Sampler

Katie Murt: Drums, Percussion

Liz Muir: Cello
Ellen Southern: Voice, Percussion / found sounds, Bowed & Plucked Psaltery



Recorded, mixed and mastered by Tom Berry at The Premises Studio, London.

Vinyl mastering by Beau Thomas at Ten Eight Seven Mastering, pressed at The Vinyl Factory, London.
Album artwork by Ellen Southern, design by Katie Murt.
Album photography by Katie Murt Photography 
Band portraits by Katie Murt Photography.

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Dead Space Chamber Music Bristol, UK

Press: zoheb@qabarpr.com

“The Black Hours is deeply storied and gloriously doomy, a mix of beauty and heaviness, ancient and new.” The Quietus

“Compelling and totally genius. Fresh, ancient and relentlessly innovative, DSCM embody the transportive power of music” Louder Than War

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