» Music: Grasscut
Local duo Grasscut on how walking the South Downs inspired the ‘antique electronica’ of their debut album writes Jeff Hemmings
The debut album by Grasscut, 1 Inch/½ Mile, maps the journey across a real landscape just outside Brighton, including the long lost village of Balsdean, a place that met its end during WWII when the area was used for artillery practice. On the way it encounters both string quartets and casio keyboards, as well as a cast of voices including a 1920s tenor and a Victorian singing poet…
“Its an eerie place if you know the history,” says Andrew Philips, who makes up the duo with Marcus O’Dair. “There’s so much stuff around the Downs – I love walking, I just wanted to flag up the possibilities that you are standing on more than you think you are…”
The walk starts besides Woodingdean on the edge of Brighton, and is a 50 minute trek through a secluded valley, normally soundtracked by just the sounds of wildlife. “The idea started when I was travelling and touring with other bands and finding myself in strange parts of Britain. The first thing I wrote was a song about the Meadowhall shopping centre in Sheffield – a bizarre place with people shopping and keeping their heads down. I just got into recording.”
Andrew is a full-time composer, often commissioned to score soundtracks for film documentaries and dramas. “We used quite a lot of spoken word samples, which is something I do in my work – make music under spoken voices. For instance, I’ve used a sample of Hilaire Belloc singing, from an old 78 made in 1927. It’s nice to be able to vary who the lead vocalist is.”
Andrew’s recently deceased mother (Mrs May Philips) also gets an airing. “She told me a lovely story about how she was living in North Wales at the end of the war and they had this Italian café and no one could work out how they got coffee when there was no food… that kept them going! She didn’t know I was recording at the time. I’ve done a lot of covert recording here and there… use my mobile, pretend I am texting…”
1 Inch/½ Mile is a mix of modern electronica, field recordings and vintage spoken word samples. “The style evolved into a hybrid of quite antique stuff like with gramophones and harmoniums and things that made beautiful sounds, with electronica. But instead of doing something folky and retro, it felt more natural and resonant by colliding harsh electronics with beautiful sounds.
“There is an attempt to render certain landscapes and reflect on how weird it is to, say, listen to Elgar in a shopping centre – I try and reflect that iPod shuffle reality…” Take a journey with Grasscut and more will be revealed!
1 Inch/½ Mile is out now on Ninja Tune.
