The Blind Deaf Stone | TRS096
Our first release of year 2021 sees the return of much beloved English musician Orla Wren. Recorded in, inspired and infused by his home in the wilds of the Scottish countryside, his first album in 5 years is entitled “The Blind Deaf Stone”, and is a paean to a certain pastoralism, and to the life of this somewhat secluded artist. What makes this record of particular interest is that it was made entirely with one monophonic synthesizer, an analog study in radical reductionism!
The four longform tracks are distinct excursions into a personal landscape of organic and broken melodic meanderings…the slapping spokes of a bicycle ridden through the tall grass, the swish of the walking stick, the buzz of the fly on the manure and the mysteriously subtle drone like chattering and burbling of the deepest countryside. Plaintive…melancholic…beatific…this is the loveliest of soundtracks to a simple life well lived away from the maddening crowd, and without regret.
As with most TRS releases, TRS096 is available in two distinct physical versions.
The very special deluxe edition of only 55 copies comes in the form of a double, 10” lathe cut record version, in modified, recycled 10” kraftboard, gatefold jackets. On the front and back of each of these heavyweight jackets are mounted uniquely different, 100 year old, beautifully printed duotone photographs from a German book cataloguing the obviously much admired farm animals of the day…sheep, hogs, cattle and horses of various breeds. The cover and spine of each is hand stamped. On both sides of the inside of each jacket are hand holed sheets of quite rare, multicolored, mid century hand screenprinted Spanish cork wallpapers, each copy different. Strung by thread and hanging from the inside is a vintage views of “Beautiful Scotland” tobacco card. Also included in each is a uniquely different, antique 7”x9” floral print, which is self printed on the back with the album credit info, hand stamped and numbered, and has attached to it a singularly lovely, 1930’s pastoral photo from the British Isles. Within each copy, both of the two meticulously hand cut, 10”, clear lathe cut records come in heavyweight, vintage 78rpm record style, chipboard inner sleeves. Each record has high quality printed label as well. Finally, each of these fat, heavy, elegant creatures comes in a custom, tight fitting outer poly sleeve.
Lathe cut records by Bladud Flies, in Wales, UK.
There is also a very limited CD version in an edition of just 100 copies. In a lovely 4 panel digipak, featuring vintage photos of fellow animals of bygone days. Of course the music is also available digitally to those that prefer it so.
This release will ship the week of the 18th of January 2021
>>> Sound artist Orla Wren is based in a rural studio in the hills of Dumfries & Galloway in Scotland, makes electroacoustic music that uses the emotional space between analog and modular synthesis, field recordings, organic acoustic sounds and digital processing.
Within his practice he incorporates an interest in aural architecture, sound mapping, sound in film, itinerant sounds, abandoned spaces, site-specific sound installations, science and sensory immersion, acoustic perception, radical listening and collaborative sound.
Utilizing cutting edge technology he weaves sound into melodies and textures of pinprick detail, revealing the antiquated isolation of the environments that have inspired them, rendering the minutiae of nature into sonic form.
He has presented his work live around the world.
>>> selected performances
Herman Kolgen, Orla Wren, Olivier Girouard/Urban9 (Musique D’Impression – Montreal, Quebec)
Four consecutive performances in a book bindery 2011.
Mathias Deplanque, Orla Wren, Murcof, Bernt Friedman (ISI Festival – Musée du Vieux, Montpellier, France) 2012.
Orla Wren, Serafina Steer (The Fenaille Museum – Rodez, France) 2010.
aus, Orla Wren, Isnaj Dui, The Boats, Laptop & Cello (Off Key Sessions – Bristol, UK) 2013.
Orla Wren, offthesky, Isnaj Dui, Kinder Scout, Astrid (HomeNormalism – Cafe Oto – London UK) 2013.
Nils Frahm, Robert Henke, Orla Wren, Francisco Lopez (Jardins Efémeros – Misericordia Church, Viseu – Portugal) 2014.
Kyson, Orla Wren, Lee Chapman, Brinstaar, Sound Meccano (Space Textures VIII – The National Library of Latvia,
Riga, Latvia) 2014.
>>> His music has been published on many labels since 2006.
Expanding Records (UK) Flau Records (Japan) Arbouse Recordings (France) Air Texture (US)
Eilean Records (France) Oak Editions (Italy) Facture (UK) Home Normal (UK/Japan) SilentSEED (UK)
Dronarivm (Russia) Time Released Sound (US)
>>> Selected press
“Orla Wren is one of my favourite shamans – one that can transform sound
into ultra-conscience aesthetic information”‘
Rui Matoso|JARDINS EFEMEROS
“So wonderful … it saved my day … I feel part of your sound mycelium now,
as moss on the rocks becoming moisture, unifying the underground to the infinite light.”
Cécile Lacoste|SUBTEXT
“The delicate world of Orla Wren”
Verity Sharp|BBC Radio 3|LATE JUNCTION
“An electroacoustic nomad”
Max Reinhardt|BBC Radio 3|LATE JUNCTION
”Consider me a fan”
Nick Luscombe|BBC Radio 3|LATE JUNCTION
”A dream I would like to return to”
Ben Eshmade|ARCTIC CIRCLE RADIO
“Achingly beautiful and uncommonly refined”
BOOMKAT
“The droning and wheeling of summer insect life”
David Stubbs|THE WIRE
“I imagined gently rocking in an old wooden chair, in a shack in the forest,
completely impervious to the constraints of time”
Danny Turner|FUTURE MUSIC
Although superficially suggestive of calmness and a meditative nature, is in fact a music of excited anticipation, of bated breath.
Herein lays both its true difference and its little touch of genius”
Keiron Phelan|DELUSIONS OF ADEQUECY
”It distils sublime wood smoke folk atmosphere and pointallist digitalis to the subatomic level”
Dave Sheppard|THE LEAF LABEL
“Orla Wren was at times playing music of such graceful and restrained beauty that time seemed suspended
to allow the audience to observe the life of a microscopic ecosystem ebbing and flowing in slow motion”
Pascal Savy|FLUID RADIO
“The music of this artist is as endearing as himself, offering a shy and sweet sensibility.
We are invited to fly over pictures (his or ours) of the most charming moments captured at other parts of the world.
That’s the beauty of tiny things that gives a meaning to life here:
when a bee comes in your ear to awake you, the feeling of a sunny day on the skin,
fresh grass between the toes or a child’s laugh floating in the air.
The work of Orla Wren is highly comforting, with a respectful care to details from nature and childhood, or time stopping.
As sound flies by the studio, we can feel a friendly hand caressing our neck while repeating everything’s going to be okay.
Tui reveals those magic instants to others while preserving their fragility and their innocence,
their intensity and plainness”
Marion Gerbier|VOIR.CA
“Beautiful and moving”
Aurelio Cianciotta|NEURAL.IT
“A moonlit night, a little girl, hidden in her room, decided to make music.
Something a little fabulous, with creatures that one tames, in a voice both magician and disturbing.
So that Orla Wren composes his pieces, as we invent stories to sleep”
DELICIOUS|SCOPITONE
“Orla Wren, as you say, makes a beautiful sound at midnight”
YU|CA
