Wil Bolton ~ Quarry Bank

Why would we tell you about a sold-out release?  That’s just rude, right?  We have two reasons: first, this release is worth the press; and second, we care about you and we don’t want this to happen again.  For this reason, we are telling you to click the link at the bottom of this article and to get on the Time Released Sound mailing list right now.  Don’t even read the rest of this article!  (You can come back here later.)  Colin Herrick’s handmade work and attention to detail, his ear for talent and his obvious love for his artists made Time Released Sound the best new label of 2011, and we expect even greater things in 2012.  No pressure, Colin!

So let’s start with the packaging.  Quarry Bank‘s form is similar to that of the limited edition of Paper Relics’ Over Exposure (also sold out, sorry!).  The booklet is a tiny scrapbook of Quarry Bank Mill photography and art, a loving tribute to time and place.  Various ephemera are bound together: wallpaper, handwritten notes, instructional guides.  The Mill winds its way into the music as well: stream and machine are woven into a tapestry of music boxes, bells, organ, violin and guitar.  The fact that Bolton himself recorded the locational sounds is an additional bonus.  This makes the entire package a unique creation: no one else, no where else, could have made a recording such as this and surrounded it with so much fitting adornment.  This is cloudy, busy ambient music in the Wixel vein, most apparent on the title track but present throughout: an homage that mixes past and present in an original and beguiling fashion.  (Richard Allen)

Quarry Bank

Available here