Fox & Fowles (Simon Fox: guitar, voice / Sara Fowles: viola) recorded 'Forward', an album of songs due for release in 2017. They are stripped back, reflecting only what they can create live - one acoustic guitar, one viola, one voice, one loop pedal.
As a companion piece, Simon has taken the original files from these recordings, tweaking and bending them to create 'Further', a looping, immersive journey through a rich pastoral ambient landscape.
For several years, live World of Fox has been solo deal, with just me, an acoustic guitar and a loop pedal for good measure. More recently, I've been playing gigs with violist Sara Fowles, which has added an extra dimension to the music and a bit more of a convivial atmosphere to the usual grumpy stage presence. (Quite rightly, she doesn't put up with any of my shit...)
However, I've been acutely aware that anyone buying my records at gigs won't be getting a reproduction of what they've just witnessed. (I can't help myself when recording, and usually end up with all sorts of extra instrumentation and effects). I don't know about you, but as a punter, I've found that a little frustrating when I've bought records at gigs. Add the fact that I've been moving further and further away from solo acoustic in my newer recordings, I decided we should record a stripped-down record that actually sounded like the live set!
So, as a way of drawing a line under the whole acoustic thing, we made a start on recording an album of one-take, no overdubs versions of the songs. This Fox & Fowles album is going to be called 'Forward' (the city of Birmingham's motto) and will be released in Summer 2017. One voice, one guitar, one viola, plus some live-generated loops. Exactly what you'd hear at a gig.
As an extra 'statement', I had the idea of producing a companion album, taking just the files recorded for 'Forward' and seeing how far I could bend, twist and generally fuck around with them to create entirely new ambient pieces. This was my way of bringing the two aspects of my music together and I thought it would make a rather pleasing concept.
All these ideas were bubbling up and coalescing when I got a shout from Jerv. He told me about the 77-minute idea and asked if I wanted to contribute. This couldn't have been better! Instead of a companion album, 'Further' is effectively one track that does the same job.
My last release on WIAWYA, with Amelia Fletcher, was one of the most 'pop' things Sara and I had done, so it was nice to go completely the other way with this one.
I took the original files from the first 'Forward' sessions, looped and overlaid them and threw whatever reverbs, delays, amps and filters I had at my disposal to create the new piece. In keeping with the original concept, nothing new was recorded for 'Further'.
It became clear early on that the viola should be the main driver of the pieces, so it features heavily, often multi-tracked to create a 'one-woman chamber orchestra' (Sara reckons she should get a t-shirt with this on...). Guitars or banjos occasionally make an appearance, often stretched filtered and generally messed about with, creating ambience rather than melody. Very occasionally, a voice may surface, but most of the time you won't recognise it as such. Which is fine by me.
As with previous ambient pieces or remixes, I've found that minor phrases in the originals have room to breathe and may become the dominant melody. If you know the songs, you may recognise the odd tune here and there, but out of context they take on a quite different mood.
Improvisation during collating and mixing meant that the process took me in unexpected directions and the overall piece, while loyal to the initial concept, didn't make itself known until the very end of the process. I have to say, I'm pretty pleased with it! I also like that if I did it again, from the same raw materials, the outcome would be - to quote one of my musical heroes, Robert Wyatt - different every time.
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