Blacksand - Barn

Producer and classically trained multi-instrumentalist Nick Franglen is one half of Lemon Jelly who, since 1997, have sold half a million albums around the world. Charles Casey is a founder member of Akasha, the original, tripped-out purveyors of noirish jazadelica, and as an in-demand musician, he has played and toured with Neneh Cherry, David Axelrod, The Divine Comedy and Lemon Jelly. All of which will provide very few clues as to the sound they have been creating together as Blacksand since November 2006. Equipped with guitars, a phalanx of effects pedals, looping, delay and distortion boxes, and an array of new and old amplifiers, the improvised musical dialogue they manipulate and sometimes struggle to control is a complex, multi-layered sound that ranges from sparkling acoustica to throbbing electronic maelstrom. While guitars are the only instruments played, they don’t always sound like guitars and are scraped, tapped, scratched and pinged to provide sounds for an endless stream of effects that are manipulated, looped and distorted into oblivion. Improvised and unpredictable, no one Blacksand performance can ever be repeated, and their tracks are recorded live with no overdubs. ‘Barn’ is their incredible debut release, issued as a hand-numbered limited edition of 1000 copies, stunningly packaged in fold-out seeve designed by Chris Bigg and Vaughan Oliver at v23. ‘Barn’ is the sound of two men in an old calving shed in Sussex, working through a musical relationship that verges on the telepathic to produce an hour of dark, beautiful, and powerfully transportive improvised electronica that inhabits a space in between music and soundscape.... if Ridley Scott was ever to make a sequel to ‘Bladerunner’, he would do much worse than to engage the services of Blacksand. While the boundless nature of this music has undeniably cosmic dimensions, to describe it as “otherworldly” would be too easy. There is something deeply visceral about this guitar-driven sound that resonates with the listener in a way that eludes much electronica. Showcasing ‘Barn’ in recent weeks via a series of “extreme” gigs in locations such as a disused mine and an abandoned jet turbine test chamber, and with plans afoot for a performance on a decommissioned Soviet submarine, Blacksand have caught the attention of the “serious” arts press, with reviews in The Times (“looped notes create a lullaby-like soundbed; the whole room feels like a sleeping giant awakened...”), The Independent (“…an echo of voices, then a low rumble of electronic feedback, like a machine clearing its throat… a quicksilver glissandi shimmering over great tides of low, booming discords that settle and subside into a stream of liquid notes… music that veers between the futuristic and the primal”), and  a five-star spot in the latest Observer Music Monthly Top Ten (“the ear picks out ghosts of other instruments that aren't there, then it feels like a door has suddenly shut, leaving the listener surrounded by slow-moving currents of sound… multi-layered loops that sound like they are emanating through ancient rock.”). Already album of the week on the prestigious Rough Trade and Boomkat sites, the latter referencing no less than James Blackshaw, Xela, Slowdive, Machinefabriek, Earth, Neil Young, SUNN 0))) & Pita’s KTL, Angelo Badalamenti, ‘Paris, Texas’, Jack Rose and Stars Of The Lid on the way to concluding that “Blacksand have created a towering, hugely impressive debut that will leave a lasting impression on you long after it comes to a close. Very Highly Recommended - Essential Purchase.”

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