BLACKSAND
barn

rough trade exclusive plus one of the cds has got a golden ticket in it, entitling the holder to a personal performance by blacksand in their front room. blacksand is nick franglen (one half of lemon jelly) and charlie casey. 'barn' is their incredible debut release and is issued as a limited edition of 1000 stunningly packaged, hand - numbered albums with a sleeve design by chris bigg and vaughan oliver at v23. 'barn' is the sound of two men in an old calving shed in sussex, equipped with guitars, an array of effects pedals, a musical relationship that verges on the telepathic and the desire to create a new way of making music. while they set out create one thing, they ended up with something quite different. a line on the cd sleeve acknowledges the sheer unpredictability of the creative process : "this isn't what we set out to do. you never know what's about to happen." 'barn' is an hour of dark, beautiful, improvised electronica that inhabits a space in-between music and soundscape. the transportative power of this music is captured by the evocative and filmic track titles. 'probe one' is the sound of an exploratory journey into a new world. 'u1195' witnesses the dying moments of a u-boat and abyss... if ridley scott was ever to make a sequel to bladerunner, he would do much worse than to engage the services of blacksand. while boundless nature of the music has undeniably cosmic dimensions, to describe this music as 'otherworldly' would be too easy. there is something deeply visceral about blacksand's guitar-driven sound that resonates with the listener in a way that eludes much electronica. blacksand tracks are recorded live with no overdubs. entirely improvised, no one performance can ever be repeated.