Before talking about the actual music on this album, let’s first take a look at its remarkable package. After all, “the medium is the message” isn’t it?
“For the Tired and Ill At Ease” – the fourth release on Daniel ‘(Fluid Audio/Fluid Radio’) Crossley’s Facture label – is a hand numbered/staped/sealed package (limited edition of 200) containing:
- 180 gram “pure virgin” vinyl
- Letter pressed CD
- 16 page photo booklet
- 12×12 bespoke print
- A2 Posters
And quickly find their audiences, too. A collector’s horror, sometimes, because often these releases sell out on the first day and are hard to find from then.
Scissors and Sellotape is in fact John McCaffrey, also known as Part Timer or numerous other projects such as Under the Spire or Lost Tribe Sound.
The work he does as Scissors and Sellotape differs from that as Part Timer, in that it’s less folky. The compositional process is best described with the name Scissors and Sellotape.
Although the basic material mainly consists of cut up samples and tape loops, circling around fragments from the original piano samples, the resulting music fits fine inbetween recent projects of people like Olafur Arnalds, Nils Frahm, Clem Leek and such.
But do nót make the mistake this is ‘just’ one of many ‘piano-theme-over-ambient-background albums’: there are quite a lot of surprising things and effect to discover which definitely make this album stand out!
The original piano (and organ) recordings for this project were recorded together with multi-instrumentalist Heidi Elva in just three hours in St. Mary’s Church in Thornbury, Melbourne, Australia. After that, they were edited, resampled and stretched almost beyond recognition of even Heidi herself.
And why the, somewhat depressing, title?
“The album reflects an atheist’s fascination with the continuing hold that theology has over people – that despite years of humanistic advance, people still turn to their religion for meaning or relief from the pressures of the real world. The track titles link to this theme in more ways than one, joining on to either the beginning or end – ‘For The Tired And Ill At Ease…There Is No Succour’, ‘It’s A Long Slog…For The Tired And Ill At Ease’, ‘For The Tired And Ill At Ease…I Say Get Used To It’”.
In this way, this album offers consolation and hope – and not just for those tired and ill at ease.. .
The release is scheduled for the first half of november, though nothing is exactly sure about this release date. So keep an eye on the Facture website for details if you don’t want to miss out on this one!
Scissors and Sellotape – A Simple ‘I know How you Feel’