GROUNDBREAKING SCOTTISH COMPOSER & PRODUCER
ERLAND COOPER
ANNOUNCES ALBUM PLANTED UNDERGROUND 3 YEARS AGO
FINALLY SET FOR RELEASE
THE ULTIMATE MUSICAL COLLABORATION WITH NATURE
‘CARVE THE RUNES THEN BE CONTENT WITH SILENCE’ (CO-WRITTEN WITH SOIL) RELEASED 20 SEPT 2024
WORLD PREMIERE AT THE BARBICAN 8 JUNE 2024
UK & EUROPEAN TOUR DATES AUTUMN 2024
Today (Spring Equinox), Scottish composer Erland Cooper – who merges music with evocative storytelling and conceptual art – will hear the mastertape he buried in the earth three years ago for the very first time. The only recording of his new work, ‘Carve the Runes Then Be Content With Silence’, was left underground to be nurtured and manipulated by the soil with all digital copies permanently deleted. This totally unique album is now set for release on 20th September (in line with Autumn Equinox on 22nd Sep) on Mercury KX. Also announced today is a full UK and European tour,including London’s Barbican and Orkney’s prestigious St Magnus Festival.
Hailed as “Nature’s Songwriter” (Guardian), in May 2021 Erland “planted” the sole recording of the work (on ¼ inch magnetic tape, with digital files permanently deleted), along with the sheet music, near his childhood home in Orkney. In an unprecedented move Erland’s record label, Mercury KX/Decca, agreed to release the album that, instead of going to be mixed, was going under the ground. The Times stated, “In an act that is either admirable or insane, Decca Records has signed Cooper for an album it will have to wait three years to hear.” A date for the public reveal, at the Barbican, was also announced as the tape lay, as yet unheard, in the soil – a release plan never before seen in the record industry.
Erland Cooper himself explains, “It’s a meditation on value, process, patience and art. Any alterations to the sound and music, produced by the earth, will be reincorporated into the pages of the final score for live performance, as orchestral articulations. Then, the work is complete.”
The work is a brand new composition for solo violin and string ensemble. Over three movements (Movement 1: Carve The Runes / Movement 2 : Then Be Content / Movement 3: With Silence), it celebrates George Mackay Brown on his centenary, written 100 years since the Orcadian poet’s birth.
On burying the tape, Erland left a cryptic trail for anyone to search and find it if they so wish, issuing a map, with extra clues released every equinox and solstice. The tape was found in September 2022, and (literally) unearthed by Orkney residents Victoria and Dan Rhodes. They had planned a whole holiday around the unusual quest, described in the Daily Telegraph as “a mystery that had been vexing music fans.”
Since then, the tape – carefully set in a wood and glass cabinet along with the sheet music and a violin (placed just above the tape to protect it from any overzealous shovels) – has been drying out whilst on display in independent record shops across the country. Gradually making its way down from Scotland, its final destination (before going back to the studio) was the Barbican, where it was exhibited at the arts centre in all its soil-ridden glory. Also in the cabinet is the carved rune stone which was placed on top of the earth to mark the spot, and can now be seen on the album cover.
The tape has now left the Barbican for its final leg of a very long journey, going back into the studio for its delicate digitisation process, in preparation for Cooper to hear it for the first time since its burial 3 years ago. He will then rescore the work, staying true to every sound on the decomposed tape, and the composition will be finished: COMPOSE, DECOMPOSE, RECOMPOSE.
Apart from the buried sheet music, Erland entrusted three copies of the score to three custodians: musician Paul Weller, novelist Ian Rankin and radio presenter Elizabeth Alker.
Has the project worked? And what does that mean? All will be revealed to the public on 8th June this year when, at a concert like no other, the unearthed tape itself is (all being well) played at the Barbican and a large ensemble of musicians perform the newly finished work, live, for the very first time.
A special Limited Edition, recycled LP, signed, numbered 1-1000 and presented with a piece of the original planted tape (after its UK premiere), along with a certificate of authenticity is available for pre-order today. If ordered before 6PM on Sunday 24th March, fans will also be granted early access to November tour dates.
ERLAND COOPER TOUR DATES:
JUNE 2024:
Sat, 8th London, Barbican (New Album Reveal)
Tues, 11th Liverpool, Philharmonic
Wed, 12th Cardiff, Acapela Studio
Thurs, 13th Stroud, Sub Rooms
Fri, 14th Totnes, St Mary’s Church
Fri, 28th Kirkwall, St Magnus Cathedral
Fri, 19th Schloss Bröllin, Detect Classic Festival
OCTOBER 2024:
Thurs 24th Hannover, Feinkost Lampe
Fri, 25th Hamont-Achel, De Posthoorn
Sat, 26th Berlin, Fotografiska
Sun, 27th Büsum, Lighthouse Hotel + Spa
Tues, 29th The Hague, PAARD
Wed, 30th Paris, Le 104
NOVEMBER 2024:
Wed 20th York, National Centre for Early Music
Thu 21st Manchester, Halle St Peter’s
Fri 22nd Saffron Walden, Saffron Hall
Sat 23rd Sheffield, Upper Chapel
Sun 24th Sunderland, The Fire Station
Mon 25th Glasgow, St Luke’s
Tues 26th Norwich, Arts Centre
Wed 27th Oxford, SJE Arts
Thu 28th Southampton, Turner Sims
Fri 29th Bristol, Beacon
Sat 30th Brighton, Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts
Originally recorded at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland with internationally acclaimed violin soloist Daniel Pioro (Jonny Greenwood, BBC Philharmonc) & Studio Collective, a specially selected RCS chamber string group.
Mixed by Marta Salogni (Björk, Anna Meredith, Daniel Avery) and mastered by Guy Davie onto ¼ inch magnetic tape before all digital files were permanently deleted.
‘CARVE THE RUNES THEN BE CONTENT WITH SILENCE’ WILL BE RELEASED ON 20TH SEPT 2024 (WEEK OF AUTUMN EQUINOX)
PRE-ORDER HERE: https://erlandcooper.lnk.to/CarveTheRunesWE/officialartiststore