Thirty Minutes Dept. - In Lost Albion

There's nothing jingoistic about this, no anthems, no patriotism. It's not about a nation, or the characteristics of its people, even as it is all absolutely English*. It's an evocation of the spirit of Albion - the lost Eden, the garden of heaven, which is gone now, even as a prayer. Just as the land shapes the people, so the people shape the land, and the Albion of William Blake and Samuel Palmer is so twisted out of shape as to be unrecognisable. Yet the dream still lives, in memory. We can see it in Powell and Pressburger's A Canterbury Tale, in Palmer's luminous vision (that's his genius adorning the cover), and hear echoes of it in Sandy Denny's heartbreaking voice.

This is a dream (as the repetition of the word might suggest), and has the shifting, disjointed non-linearity of a dream. There are four undefined sections, merging into each other: Pastoral, At War, The Dark Side Of The Maypole, and At Sea. It does not pretend to be an overview of English musical tradition, or to tell any kind of story.

This has been by far the most labour intensive and satisfying Thirty Minutes I've made. Many days researching, assembling, editing and mixing, with countless playbacks and adjustments. Unlike my other Thirty Minute projects, most of the elements were unfamiliar to me; I started with a vague idea (as Picasso recommends) and found what helped to express it, and what didn't, by experimentation rather than design.The biggest surprise for me has been opening my ears to Delius - better late than never.

Words and music include extracts from (in no particular order): Williams Shakespeare and Coleridge, Bert Jansch and Sandy Denny, the Third Ear Band, Arnold Bax, Wilfred Owen,  Ralph Vaughan Williams, Fredericks Delius and Kelly, Arthur Machen (guest Welshman*), Al Bowlly, Trad Arr, Peter Warlock, George Butterworth, and, exploiting the compiler's privilege, myself.

Thanks to Archie Valparaiso for his technical assistance!