Today (Spring Equinox), Scottish composer Erland Cooper – who merges music with evocative storytelling and conceptual art – will hear the mastertape he buried in the earth three years ago for the very first time. The only recording of his new work, ‘Carve the Runes Then Be Content With Silence’, was left underground to be nurtured and manipulated by the soil with all digital copies permanently deleted. This totally unique album is now set for release on 20th September (in line with Autumn Equinox on 22nd Sep) on Mercury KX. Also announced today is a full UK and European tour,including London’s Barbican and Orkney’s prestigious St Magnus Festival.
Hailed as “Nature’s Songwriter”, in May 2021 Erland “planted” the sole recording of the work (on ¼ inch magnetic tape, with digital files permanently deleted), along with the sheet music, near his childhood home in Orkney. In an unprecedented move Erland’s record label, Mercury KX/Decca, agreed to release the album that, instead of going to be mixed, was going under the ground. The Times stated, “In an act that is either admirable or insane, Decca Records has signed Cooper for an album it will have to wait three years to hear.” A date for the public reveal, at the Barbican, was also announced as the tape lay, as yet unheard, in the soil – a release plan never before seen in the record industry.
Erland Cooper himself explains, “It’s a meditation on value, process, patience and art. Any alterations to the sound and music, produced by the earth, will be reincorporated into the pages of the final score for live performance, as orchestral articulations. Then, the work is complete.”
The work is a brand new composition for solo violin and string ensemble. Over three movements (Movement 1: Carve The Runes / Movement 2 : Then Be Content / Movement 3: With Silence), it celebrates George Mackay Brown on his centenary, written 100 years since the Orcadian poet’s birth.
On burying the tape, Erland left a cryptic trail for anyone to search and find it if they so wish, issuing a map, with extra clues released every equinox and solstice. The tape was found in September 2022, and (literally) unearthed by Orkney residents Victoria and Dan Rhodes.
Since then, the tape – carefully set in a wood and glass cabinet along with the sheet music and a violin (placed just above the tape to protect it from any overzealous shovels) – has been drying out whilst on display in independent record shops across the country. Gradually making its way down from Scotland, its final destination (before going back to the studio) was the Barbican, where it was exhibited at the arts centre in all its soil-ridden glory. Also in the cabinet is the carved rune stone which was placed on top of the earth to mark the spot, and can now be seen on the album cover.
The tape has now left the Barbican for its final leg of a very long journey, going back into the studio for its delicate digitisation process, in preparation for Erland Cooper to hear it for the first time since its burial 3 years ago. He will then rescore the work, staying true to every sound on the decomposed tape, and the composition will be finished: COMPOSE, DECOMPOSE, RECOMPOSE.
‘CARVE THE RUNES THEN BE CONTENT WITH SILENCE’ WILL BE RELEASED ON 20TH SEPT 2024 (WEEK OF AUTUMN EQUINOX)
PRE-ORDER HERE: https://erlandcooper.lnk.to/CarveTheRunesWE/officialartiststore
JUNE 2024:
Sat, 8th London, Barbican (New Album Reveal)
Tues, 11th Liverpool, Philharmonic
Wed, 12th Cardiff, Acapela Studio
Thurs, 13th Stroud, Sub Rooms
Fri, 14th Totnes, St Mary’s Church
Fri, 28th Kirkwall, St Magnus Cathedral
Fri, 19th Schloss Bröllin, Detect Classic Festival
NOVEMBER 2024:
Wed 20th York, National Centre for Early Music
Thu 21st Manchester, Halle St Peter’
Fri 22nd Saffron Walden, Saffron Hall
Sat 23rd Sheffield, Upper Chapel
Sun 24th Sunderland, The Fire Station
Mon 25th Glasgow, St Luke’s
Tues 26th Norwich, Arts Centr
Wed 27th Oxford, SJE Arts
Thu 28th Southampton, Turner Sims
Fri 29th Bristol, Beacon
Sat 30th Brighton, Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts
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