festival of albion (51/08)

this imaginary cultural identity we collectively hold, tugs strongest with memories of childhood. emotions cross-wiring communal media references with reminiscences of an imaginary upbringing. all that postwar nostalgia that bubbled in seventies television seems to resurfacing. think the skylon. seems thirty years is the threshold where we start reinventing our parents’ childhoods into this mythical hertiage.

a theme that appears in the music of epic45, infusing pastoral post-rock with an undertones of jg ballard. antony harding also plays in july skies who have a new album out, covering similair ground, perhaps with less field recordings and electronica, the studio’s copy is still in the post.

the guardian recently ran article exploring psychogeographic rock, perhaps more telling are their influences stated on myspace…

Lost youth, fractured memories of the 1970′s, The Early Films Of Peter Greenaway ‘H IS FOR HOUSE’, S.P.B.Mais, Charles Chilton, pylons across fields, abandoned airfields, Sir Edward Elgar, 50014, endless childhood summers, dappled sunlight through leaves, forgotten England, the romance of the heavens well after closing time, mornings in May, overgrown ancient ruins that still stand, faded innocence, post-war Britain, skies of all seasons, trudging coastlines, Festival of Britain 1951, memories made with a Polaroid Landcam, abandoned Victorian hospitals, Henry Moore and William Bloye, East Anglia, time spent amongst long summer grasses, exploring RAF Newton, kissing under motorway bridges, grey English rain filled skies, concrete precincts and tower blocks, dreams of 50′s suburbia, better days ahead, the sound of children playing faraway, old Ordnance Survey maps, lost airmen, Orford Ness, John and Paul Nash, playgrounds of the city, Avebury, poppy day, a half remembered smile, York’s City walls, 1960′s artwork by Harry Wingfield, John Berry, Martin Aitchinson, C F Tunnicliffe, Ronald Lampitt, BST, municipal parks at dusk, Martin Andersen, test card music of the 1970′s & 80′s.

rock music is often a clumsy medium to deal with atmospheres of a bittersweet innocent nostalgia, only “being boring” springing to mind as a chart example.

epic45′s music on myspace

july skies music on myspace

purchase at make mine music

guardian article on psychogeographic rock