darren durham, with occasional help from the FortDax Tiny Ensemble.
Influences
abba / joana amendoeira / bee gees / big stick / the birthday party / the carter family / circle / crime & the city solution / george crumb / arthur doyle
/ einsturzende neubauten / eluvium / espers / fantomas / the go-betweens /
vincent guaraldi / his name is alive / hugo largo / husker du / charles ives /
lightning bolt / francisco lopez / meat puppets / meredith monk / giorgio moroder / conlon nancarrow / the nightblooms / mary margaret o'hara / pere ubu / piano magic / plastikman / henri pousseur / rachel's / boyd rice / royal trux / arthur russell / stars of the lid / straitjacket fits / tangerine dream / thin white rope / the verlaines / kurt weill / trevor wishart / robert wyatt / the young gods
Sounds Like
"baroquetronica" /
"the exact halfway-point between charles ives and abba" /
"michael nyman trapped upside down in a clockwork palace during a snowstorm" /
"an alternative soundtrack to dario argento's 'suspiria'" /
"john carpenter's live touring band" /
"listened to that FortDax remix....i never want to hear it again ever in my life! it sounds like some midi track created for an old atari game about knights and dragons!!"
i'm not sure what i wish to say. although FortDax will shortly be five years old in terms of public consumption, it's a fair deal further advanced than that for me and it looks likely that 'divers' will be the last release under the moniker before i split myself into a number of different pseudonyms (and genres?). all of this is of course subject to whim…perhaps you'd care to read the press release for 'divers'?
"nigh-on three years after 'folly' and at least 18 moons since the john peel session where the ideas were first aired, darren durham returns under the FortDax moniker with his somewhat-overdue new album. no, he's not entirely sure where the time went either...what can be said for certain though is that 'divers' is noticeably different in tone & hue to its predecessor and assuredly darker, although its core, as with previous FortDax releases, remains firmly rooted in melody. 'folly' went on to be regarded as an 'ambient' work in certain quarters, but darren swears that this was largely due to the low-volume mastering. suffice it to say that 'divers' contains less of 'those vangelis synthesizers' and a sleeve instruction to 'play much louder'. this time around, there may also be other musicians involved, an amount of real (read 'physical') instrumentation, and at least one field recording from the bronte country valley where he lives & works. as per 'folly', the album is dedicated to his dog 'meg', although as with his geographical placement, that's not necessarily significant."
(2004)
'FortDax' really is a single word, albeit with the idiosyncrasy of two capital letters.
FortDax is also just a single soul - darren durham, who lives in a valley located up in bronte country, england.
in april 2003 tugboat records (r.i.p.) released the acclaimed album 'folly'. 'folly' arrived in the slipstream of the mini-album for static caravan 'at bracken'. the 'dublin event guide', who made it their album of the issue, said that "folly'...to put it blunty, is stunning".
'do something pretty' suggested the following: "I get the impression that he's seen hundreds of sun rises, writing 'folly' as he imagines the music we should listen to as light pours across the land".
darren, on the other hand, thinks that whilst undeniably romantic, it may have been overly whimsical in places and adds that he 'stands by everything he's said about whigfield and charles ives in the past'.
work is currently progressing on the next batch of recordings, which at present seem linked to the sea rather than the land...
you mentioned that you thought about me last week, i wondered if anything in particular spurred off your thoughts. its all about being a even keel. keep it even. x
There was a boy very strange enchanted boy; they say be wander'd very far very far over land and sea. A little shy and sad of eye but very wise very wise was be. And then one day a magic day he passed my way and while we spoke of many things fools and kings this he said to me: The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.
In west Philadelphia born and raised On the playground was where I spent most of my days Chillin' out maxin' relaxin' all cool And all shootin some b-ball outside of the school When a couple of guys Who were up to no good Startin making trouble in my neighborhood I got in one little fight and my mom got scared She said 'You're movin' with your auntie and uncle in Bel Air'
