Lawrence English - The Peregrine

It is truly an honor and privilege to present the latest work by long time comrade, inspiration, and one of the modern masters of the craft Lawrence English. Over the past decade English's work has been published widely on respected imprints including Touch, 12k, Winds Measure, his own Room40 label and has collaborated with fellow contemporaries such as Tujiko Noriko, Stephen Vitiello, Ben Frost, Francisco Lopez, Minamo, DJ Olive and Tenniscoats.

Lawrence's latest work the Peregrine was realized in sound during the first half of 2011. Based upon J.A. Baker's book of the same name, the album finds it's structures through the descriptions of land, environment, and movement contained within the books' chapters and further develops Lawrence's experimentation with harmonic distortion and saturation.

"Swiftly now he is resigning his savagery to the night that rises round us like dark water. The great eyes look into mine. When I move my arm before his face, they still look on, as though they are seeing something beyond me from which they cannot look away. The last light flakes and crumbles down. Distance moves through the dim lines of the inland elms, and comes closer, and gathers behind the darkness of the hawk. I know he will not fly now. I climb over the wall and stand before him. And he sleeps."

- Passage from J.A. Baker's book The Peregrine

"I first discovered The Peregrine some years ago whilst visiting with David Toop in London. The book had popped up on David's radar and whilst chatting in his loft, I happened to pick it up. The page I opened to described the sound of a Barn Owl on the hunt. Before I finished that paragraph I knew I needed to own this book and find out more about the somewhat mysterious English author J.A. Baker.

I feel The Peregrine epitomizes a kind of obsessive rendering of landscape and environment. Throughout the book, Baker places central focus on the micro and macro worlds which surrounding him. He expends as much attention on the shape of clouds or the murmur of a river as on the bird, which inspires him to write. At no point does the idea of humanness come to dominate – in fact human kind merely appears as haunting images that, as Baker summarizes, ‘stink of death'. Elegantly misanthropic. Even the author remains oddly mute – we never discover anything about him, not what he does, how he lives or even where he sleep or eats. He is merely a conduit through which land is rendered.

This record is a homage to The Peregrine. Having not spent any great amount of time in East Anglia where the book is set, I have used Baker's descriptions and suggested mappings as a guide to the character and composition of the LP. The Peregrine has profoundly affected my work and it's for this reason I felt compelled to create this piece.

I hope it conjures up for listener just a few of the lasting impressions the book has left on me and in the process I dearly hope others can discover J.A Baker's evocative writings - thankfully now back in print!"

- Lawrence English June 2011

Lawrence will be debuting two new works this October in Europe. Monolith, a piece based on his expedition in Antarctica at Musik Protokioll in Graz. And Lonely Women's Club, a new project for Organ on an evening with Tony Conrad at Cafe Oto in London.

This release is strictly vinyl only and all promotional audio was ripped directly from a vinyl copy of the album.

Cover Image by Eugene Carchesio
Cut and Mastered by Andreas [Lupo] Lubich At Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin
Recorded and Produced by Lawrence English at 158, 2011

"This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body."

Worldwide Release date: September 20 2011
Preorders direct from Experimedia.net: August 20 2011
Cat#: explp020
Format: 12inch vinyl LP only
Edition: 500 copies total / 100 on clear vinyl with full color insert

Side A
October 1 – The Hunting Life
November 16 – Dead Oak
December 24 – Frost's Bitter Grip

Side B
January 30 –Grey Lunar Sea
February 10 – The Roar Ceasing
March 16 – Heavy Breath Of Silence
April 4 – And He Sleeps

Distribution
US - experimedia.net| thrilljockey.com | forcedexposure.com
EU - morrmusic.com
JP - inpartmaint.com/pdis

Press
pr@experimedia.net
ed@dense.de

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