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014EGGSCD/LP
The Eccentronic Research Council
1612 UNDERTURE
Tracklist
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mp3
1612 Underture is a 12 chapter sound poem based of the mistreatment and
memory of the Pendle Witches who were executed in Lancashire, England, on 20
August 1612; Elizabeth Device, James Device, Alizon Device, Anne Whittle (aka
Chattox), Anne Redferne. Jane Bulcock, John Bulcock, Alice Nutter, Katherine
Hewitt and Jennet Preston, as well as the accused Alice Grey and Elizabeth
Southerns (aka Old Demdike) who died while awaiting trial.
Although the nucleus of the project is based on historical events, The
Eccentronric Research Council identify an uncanny relevance to our current political
and social climate - perhaps things haven't changed so much in 400 years. To
illustrate, this the album's dialogue bounces between an unspecified contemporary
time zone and the events leading up to August 1612, contrasting fictional/factional
occurrences around various Pendle Witches whilst being routed by a modern
day travelogue to Pendle as seen through the eyes of a Catholic nun and
priest. On our journey we encounter 1960s feminist poetry, mythical news stories,
a synthesiser folk duet and the raising of a dead witch via a ouija board to
curse all that is bad about the Jubilee Year. It's a concept record.
Exactly 400 years since the trials and execution of the 12 women now known as
The Pendle Witches, a purpose assembled collective of artists, sound designers,
experimental pop performers, writers, poets (and one actress) pay homage to the
legendary Lancastrian sisterhood.
One part political commentary and feminist manifesto and two parts theatrical
fakeloric sound poem, the 1612 Underture is a sonic mass of multi-disciplined
creative reactions, both rehearsed and improvised, built around a skeleton narrative
of semi-fictional and symbolic events involving a modern day pilgrimage to
Pendle Hill to explore the misconceptions that led to what is now considered to
be one of the most disastrous, prejudiced and oft mythologised miscarriages of
justice in the history of the pre-industrialised north.
The collaborative reactions of Adrian Flanagan, Maxine Peake and Dean
Honer (under the umbrella moniker The Eccentronic Research Council) take
their collective experiences in theatre, music technology, television, pop cultural
archiving and radio to reimagine a time and place, baron of authority and religious
faith, where the unified working classes and alternative thinkers are
mocked and persecuted at the hands of a flawed and paranoid government and
monarchy. As The Eccentronic Research Council recognise; "Socially and politically
things haven't changed so much in 400 years, people are poor again and
have to do bad things too eat, individuals who don't fit in are still beaten down
with bats, and there are hypothetical witch hunts all around us."
Stylistically The ERC opt for a vast array of mechanical music machines and synthesised
effects to create this conceptual non-populist pop using analogue and
acoustic equipment alongside tape manipulation, vocalisations and spoken word,
remaining faithful to a pre-digital and unpredictable era taking cues from Mort
Garson, Suzanne Ciani, Sorel Hayes, Joe Meek, Daphne Oram, JP Massiera and
Delia Derbyshire amongst others. Conceived with the same ambitions and goals
of an electronic Smithsonian Folkways record, the 1612 Underture is a concept
album that aims to reevaluate and positively recontextualise an important historical
and cultural feminine incident, but also hopes to encourage listeners to rethink
how they process modern folk and popular music 400 years after the events in
the eye of this project’s unique subject matter.