Praedormitium (Vinyl)
Availability: In stock
£22.00 Original price was: £22.00.£17.00Current price is: £17.00.
Availability: In stock
Limited Edition Dolphin Blue Vinyl. 300 copies only.
Praedormitium was inspired by the warm glow and fuzzy logic of hypnagogic states – the realms of consciousness between sleep and waking. These threshold states are characterised by particular images, sounds, and cognitive effects. Both Philip K Dick and Salvador Dali drew upon them for inspiration.
Praedormitium is the third part of a loose trilogy of albums that Polypores (Stephen James Buckley) has recorded for Castles in Space. Following in the garlanded pathways of Flora (2019) and the universally acclaimed Azure (2020), the expectations for Praedormitium are running extremely high. Stephen continues the odyssey he started on Flora and refined on Azure to deliver an album not only full of his usual depth and invention, but built to exist within that enclave of melody and optimism that typifies the Castles in Space catalogue. The album spins a dizzying 12 track suite of inspirational modular synthesizer pieces built from Stephen’s instinctive and seemingly limitless free flowing creativity.
He writes, “In my third album for Castles In Space, I felt that I should pursue the themes of the previous two by exploring an imaginal place – and decided that the place between wakefulness and sleep was an ideal location. If the previous two albums were Earth and Water, then this album is Ether. The album was recorded around Christmas 2020. The twinkling lights and frosted ground lent an unexpected air of yearning and melancholy to the music, an emotive thread running through it which, despite being unintended, must have been lurking in my subconscious somewhere and brought out through induction of these states through various means. Like the previous albums, it is very much a journey. Only this time you wake up at the end…”
The incredibly rewarding partnership with artist Nick Taylor is also continued on this release as Nick (as he did with his artwork for Flora and Azure), translates Stephen’s cosmic wonderment into breathtaking landscapes, trippy symbolism and arcane wisdom. The music and artwork complement each other perfectly, being two elements of the same thing and born from a restless, seeking desire to blow your mind.
Stephen James Buckley (Polypores) paints music with modular synthesizers, drawing influence from ambient, new age, and experimental electronics. His music soars, bubbles, crackles, and soothes, in ever-shifting, immersive cosmic landscapes, hyperreal dream environments and sonic sculptures. Defining a specific area of synthesizer based music as very much his own, his popularity has resulted in a brace of sold-out releases on labels such as Ian Boddy’s DiN, Polytechnic Youth, Behind The Sky, Miracle Pond Records, Frequency Domain, Woodford Halse, Golden Ratio Frequencies, and Concréte Tapes.
Uncut magazine described his 2022 album Hyperincandescent as “intensely absorbing, ever shifting through static squiggles, warm blooms of texture, bioluminescent glimmers, and rattling chimes… like a dance of fireflies in the dark”.
1. Frost And Moss 2. Yolk 3. Pure Colours And Light Charged Clouds 4. Growing Crystals 5. Enchantments 6. Kaleidoscope 7. Nonsensical And Fragmented 8. Loss Of Ego Boundaries 9. Lattice 10. Reverie 11. Our Tiny Orbits 12. And Slowly Open Your Eyes
You may also like...
Syrup House (Vinyl)
£21.00Original price was: £21.00.£10.00Current price is: £10.00.Jilk
A series of church based improvisations are reworked into clockwork symphonies of clattering percussion and driving, joyous synth workouts. Black and Amber vinyl.
- Quick ViewAdd to basket
Pompeii (Yellow Vinyl)
£21.00Cate Le Bon
Indie exclusive translucent sun yellow vinyl LP. Pompeii’s audacious tribute to memory, compassion, and mortal salience is here to stay.
- Quick ViewAdd to basket
Cults Percussion Ensemble (CD)
£5.99Cults Percussion Ensemble
Another lost gem unearthed by Trunk Records. Featuring Evelyn Glennie.
- Quick ViewAdd to basket
Cymande (Vinyl)
£22.00Cymande
From unsung heroes to living legends whose influence is huge. “‘Cymande’ stands as a slippery classic on its own terms”. Black Vinyl edition.
Moonbuilding Issue 2
£10.00Original price was: £10.00.£8.00Current price is: £8.00.Moonbuilding
Issue 2. A5, 48-page full-colour magazine, plus 13-track CD. In conjunction with Castles in Space.
Frogs, Bones & Noodles (Cassette)
£9.50Original price was: £9.50.£8.00Current price is: £8.00.Dean Honer
Ambient, synthwave & Radiophonic sonic sketches that are “pleasingly energetic when randomly assembled and roughly edited together in a Faust Tapes style.”