We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

European Endless: 12

by European Endless

/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      €10 EUR  or more

     

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.

about

At the end of March 2020, the governments of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland announced the beginning of lockdown measures. This was done in an attempt to stop the halt of the virus. Despite being a temporary measure, the lockdown has now lasted more than a year. These steps have saved countless lives and as two weeks became 12 months, an idea was hatched.

Every home has had a different experience, but each has been bound together by the same existential threat. Given the overwhelming threat to our own selves, it is easy to exclusively dwell on the negative. In February 2021, Will Cagney Murphy (Blank Screen TVs) decided to see if he could spin something more positive from the whole experience. He drew up a list of local musicians and presented them with a simple proposition:

A single piece of music, 12 minutes in length and driven by the motorik beat - described by its creator, Neu’s Klaus Dinger as being “essentially about life, how you have to keep moving, get on and stay in motion.”

That is it. No key, no set bpm. No set genre. No set form. The contributions could be single continuous pieces of music, random snippets of songs Frankensteined together, or even poetic interludes, it doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is the beat and the length. One minute for every month of the year that we’ve been in lockdown. The only points where this structure is broken are two brief interludes lasting 365 seconds. The beat represents the fact that while we've all decided to go different routes musically, we're all chained to the same rhythm. All of our stories are unique, but they’re all structurally the same. Every high, every low, light, dark, and all the shades in between, are all just points on a shared sine wave that moves on endlessly.

After putting the call out, some truly fantastic musicians answered including prolific producer Arvo Party, Phil Christie, leader of experimental outfit The Bonk, Whozyerman, Danny Carroll of Shrug Life’s latest effort Cynthia Access Point,, Dan Walsh’s psychedelic free jazz project Fixity, fast-rising, Hannah Peel & Daniel Avery-championed Belfast-based Aileen McKenna, aka This Ship Argo, Kopfkino (a one-time aleatoric collaboration between Stevie Lennox & Rory Dee from Junk Drawer, Tyrell Black from Electric Octopus, Gareth Hill of Space Shepherds, and his bandmate Peter ‘Frodo’ Hunter, also of Nomadic Rituals). Added to this new faces like the experimental hip hop of Roly, dream poppers L.C.F. , the manic electronic fury of homoterribilis and Julia McConway’s intense spoken word. Each act stands uniquely apart but are joined in their DNA by a simple four-four beat stretching out into infinity.

Every part of this collection was built organically, through favours and a genuine desire to make something beautiful out of a horrible situation. This includes the artwork by legendary Booker Prize-nominated translator, Frank Wynne. His images take shades of Jasper Johns, Robert Rayner, and Rauschenberg and meld them into the fundamental concept of the record.

In the spirit of trying to make something nice of a bad situation, all proceeds from the album will go directly to the Irish Refugee Council. If there is any group that fully understands the psychological toll of a life which bears a shocking resemblance to Waiting For Godot but with an added existential threat, it is refugees.

credits

released April 30, 2021

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

European Endless

contact / help

Contact European Endless

Streaming and
Download help

Report this album or account

If you like European Endless, you may also like: