IAN WILLIAMS : ‘Chronopolis’ – new single & video by London-based electronic musician out 18.06.24


IAN WILLIAMS | Slow-Motion Apocalypse album cover
IAN WILLIAMS
CHRONOPOLIS
new single
out 18.06.24
(Slaughterback)

video

included on
SLOW-MOTION APOCALYPSE
album out now
Bandcamp

“Designed to sound as if it’s on the edge of orgasm or violence. An unapologetic muscle car of an album”
ELECTRONIC SOUND
“Clever, beautiful and inspiring, we could certainly do a lot worse than go out on a high with this playing as the soundtrack *****”
OUTSIDE LEFT
“Think Vangelis sharing ideas with Tangerine Dream and Jean-Michel Jarre. Cinematic, with spacey, melodramatic vocals, it is proud, mighty and fearless and has a heroic feel”
TURN UP THE VOLUME

London-based musician/composer Ian Williams has released a new single entitled ‘Chronopolis’ today. Taking its title from a J.G. Ballard short story, it is an edited version of a track from his current album, ‘Slow-Motion Apocalypse’.

An accompanying video was shot in Canary Wharf in London. It highlights the clock-watching and surveillance of the workforce (facial recognition, keystroke logging and anything else they can think of) that makes the vast multinational corporations located in this financial heart of the beast untaxed billions, leaving crumbs that the average worker is supposed to feel grateful for.

The epic soundtrack to this scenario perfectly encapsulates the colossal architecture and human hive of activity, with hyperactive sequencer lines agitating under soaring lead synths as towering piano chords and immense drumbeats propel the whole machine along.

Ian Williams began his music career in Edinburgh in the mid 1980s as a founder of Beautiful Pea Green Boat, whose ethereal, atmospheric sound pre-dated the vogue for dream pop by at least twenty years. Several collaborations with Lebanese choreographer Joumana Mourad and her contemporary dance company Ijad saw him fuse Arabic/classical/techno/ambient styles, following which he changed tack to work with singer Claudia Barton as Gamine, releasing two albums of dark, piano-led torch songs and lullabies.

Williams’ own releases include THE DREAM EXTORTIONISTS (2019), a debut solo album of dark piano and electronics; LES BLESSURES INVISIBLES (2019), an eclectic electronic soundtrack to a documentary film by French director Eric Michel, and ALL BECOMES DESERT (2021), an album of minimalist ambiences and warm analogue soundscapes.

Williams has also composed the soundtrack to Michel’s new WW2 spy documentary, LE MYSTÈRE LUCIE (Code Name Lucy), which will be released in July. Further details will follow in due course.


IAN WILLIAMS | 2023 photo

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