Fiddlebox’s new album, ‘Tears of a Robot’ merges Klezmer turbines with machinery, wind and water soundscapes. This is their fourth album and is a collaboration with electronic musician Nick Swannell. It is an album of fiddle-led, synth-heavy, evocative tunes featuring field recordings of wind turbines, waterwheels, and nineteenth century industrial machinery.
Our turbines, the music and an interview with Fiddlebox and Awel Co-op member, Helen Adam can be seen on these videos;
Short promo: https://youtu.be/01ykcwBRCCI
Long promo: https://youtu.be/5YBQ0SXZbQU
The album is now available to buy from www.fiddlebox.net/shop as a hard copy. Or as a download (either whole album or single tracks) on CD Baby https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/fiddleboxandnickswannell. It’s also available on itunes, Amazon, spotify and googleplay
Deliberately cinematic in style, and with dystopian film classics in mind, this album gives the listener space to create their own images inspired by wide soundscapes. The music evokes the sounds of industries gone by, and the music is filled with steampunk as well as ‘music concrete’ sensibility. The dramatic and atmospheric sound of our 100-metre tall wind turbines is fused with the emotive and lyrical melodies of Klezmer (Eastern European Jewish) music, Sephardic songs from Renaissance Spain and new writing. The violin melody leads us on an emotional journey throughout the album, as the mood moves through lyrical sweetness, industrial grunge, and the sounds of windswept space.
Helen says “my obsession with the cranky, intricate and funky sounds of mid 19th century industrial machinery has led to field recordings of wool carders and a spinning mule becoming the rhythmic driver behind these tunes”. Waterwheels and the machinery they drove have the beat and pulse of living beasts. They are contrasted here with the synthetic smoothness of both analogue and digital synthesisers; historical instruments from the 70s synth revolution, as well as their digitised contemporaries.
Dan McCallum, Awel Co-op Director, said “All of Fiddlebox’s albums are stunning and it’s a real honour that they’d made something so beautiful from the sounds of our wind turbines.”
The Musicians
Helen Adam: professional fiddle player, composer and arranger, and half of duo Fiddlebox.
George Whitfield: full time accordionist, keyboard player and accordion fixer, and other half of Fiddlebox
Nick Swannell: sound engineer, musician and filmmaker.
The Inspirations
Helen: Stockhausen, Boulez, Vangelis, Kraftwerk, 1900’s lo fi recordings of solo Klezmer musicians
George: Jean Michel Jarre, Pink Floyd, and Hawkwind
Nick: Gary Numan, Ultravox, Depeche Mode
The tunes.
Most of the melodies we use are Klezmer tunes -Eastern European Jewish music often associated with weddings, worship and rites of passage. ‘Half Moon in the Devonian Forest’ is an original composition, and the melody in ‘Sea of Serenity’ is from the Sephardic Jewish tradition whose roots were in mediaeval Spain and Portugal.
The recordings
Awel Co-op wind turbines on Mynydd y Gwrhyd, West Wales recorded by Awel Co-op member, Alastair Duncan, Founder and Director of Stillwalks
Waterwheel, Spinning mule and wool carder all recorded on location at Cambria Woollen Mills, Drefach Felindre, Ceredigion.
INTERVIEW REQUESTS
Helen Adam, George Whitfield and Nick Swannell are available for media interviews prior arrangement.
To request an interview please contact:
DEMO ALBUMS AND PRESS KIT
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