Among The Dead City
Music by Paul Nash/Neil Johnson.
Words by Nash.
Mastered in The Garden by Nash/Johnson.
Cello & additional vocal by
Charlotte Nicholls.
Limited edition 11-track audio CD beautifully packaged in hand-printed recycled chipboard from Stumptown Printers. Coming soon: £10 inc p&p.
Digital download via CD Baby, iTunes and all good online music stores available soon.
North Sea Navigator’s nightmarish, elegiac collage Among The Dead City pieces together the soundtracks of lives half-heard from the other side of the wall
This incredibly detailed record crafted over two years is an arresting mix of hauntingly beautiful acoustic songs, darkly atmospheric instrumentals and found fragments of audio, all seen through the death mask of a Soviet satellite state.
When the Berlin Wall fell on 9 November 1989, panicked Stasi agents spent three months covertly shredding 45 million documents that detailed the lives of the six million people they spied on. When the shredding machines broke down under the weight of the task, agents had to resort to doing it manually. Puzzle Women tells the story of a team of 30 workers who have been painstakingly piecing together an average of 10 documents a day since 1991, using tape and tweezers, to stitch back the fragments of lost lives.
Two Bristol musicians, Paul Nash (North Sea Navigator) and Neil Johnson (Angel Tech), were inspired to capture the terror of administration and the insidious spectre of surveillance on record. The result of this collaboration, which chillingly heralds the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, is an uncompromising soundscape of dark NSN drone and brittle Angel Tech glitch, at once bleak but as beautiful in its widescreen scope perhaps as Berlin-era Bowie.
It is difficult to pin down the sound of Among The Dead City. If you defined this album as drone, concrete, electro-acoustic, folk or soundtrack, you’d be missing its unique essence. The two acoustic guitars and voices of Nash and Johnson are only one half of a compelling story that pieces together the soundtracks of lives half-heard from the other side of the wall. Turn out the lights, close your eyes and be very afraid.
Among The Dead City photography by Kratski. Promo photography by Shark-Finn.
BIOGRAPHY:
Paul Nash gravitated to Bristol in 2003 to join WARP-signing Gravenhurst and to form North Sea Navigator. Leaving Gravenhurst to concentrate on his own project, Nash expanded NSN to a live 3-piece with Charlotte Nicholls (Crippled Black Phoenix) and Tim Atack (Angel Tech), subsequently self-releasing Alibis EP and “stunning debut album” (Rock Sound) Make The Blacklist. Expanding to a live 4-piece with Neil Johnson (Angel Tech), NSN has toured with Rose Kemp. Nash has since collaborated with Kemp on the track Edward (Silber Records). Currently in production is the third NSN album, Lights In Darkest England, which was recorded as a 4-piece band and is set for a release on Kill Crow later in 2010.
DISCOGRAPHY:
Among The Dead City CD LP KILLCROW001/BRAIN-GEL006 (2009) – PROMO AVAILABLE 09.11.09
Death Strip
Die Hunde
Your Days Are Numbered
Puzzle Women
Gestalt
Gong IV
Honecker
Peeping Tom
Stasi
Mielke
Among The Dead City
Make The Blacklist CDR LP NSN-001 (2005) – SOLD OUT
Sway To The Drone
Vyktor Kyam
Victorian
Dark Lake
Poison In The Well
Alibis
Aileen Wuornos
Scary Show
List 99
Double Happiness
Video by Guy Denning for Victorian from debut LP Make The Blacklist.
SLOW CAROLINE MARTIN ROGER TARRY FINGERLESS HOODLUM ELKA + VISUALS BY DIRTY HENRY
FRI 22 MAY 2009 at the FOLKHOUSE, BRISTOL
A very special evening at the Folk House, Park St, Bristol. More brilliant enchanting music than you can wave a wand at! All the sparkly, faery-lighty-ness of a festival tea tent, but inside a building in the city. A kind of mini-festival-party-happening. With cake (hopefully). And cushions. And visuals. Of course you want to be there!
hi there we posted some new songs that we recorded recently at toybox. just thought we would let you know. we played this last saturday and it went pretty much without a hitch. thank fuck. thank you to the people that showed their support. you rule. we're gonna try and create another shit storm of noise and tunes down at the louie on the 2nd. please come down if you can. would be much appreciated. hope you enjoy the new ones. see you round xox a
Sunrise in the City – Launching The Sunrise Celebration 2009
Festival magic Sunrise style will be hitting Bristol with ‘Sunrise in the City’, the official launch party for The Sunrise Celebration 2009 at the Trinity Centre, Old Market, Bristol on 21st November 2008.
2009 ticket holders FREE ENTRY!
Rob Smith, Peter D Rose & MC Kelz
( Smith & Mighty and More Rockers)
Lazy Habits - The Undercover Hippy - Dub Fx - Woodnote
Featuring Special Guests, DJ Mandala Mark, Random Magick and Friends
Café and Bar, visuals and décor by the Ramshackle Faculty, films and slideshows by Viziondanz.
Walkabout performance
Dress: Flamboyant Festieware please!
Doors open 9pm
The Trinity Center, Old Market, BS20NW
Between Old Market and Lawrence Hill roundabouts on the corner of Clarence rd and Trinity rd. info email
inthecity@sunrisecelebration.com or call 0845 0096347.
www.sunrisecelebration.com,
FREE ENTRY for 2009 Sunrise Celebration Ticket Holders
All others tickets are £6.75 from Bristol Ticket Shop in advance and £9 on the door/£8 concessions
tickets from Bristol Ticket Shop: www.bristolticketshop.co.uk
0845 1080259.
Sunrise Celebration 2009
28th May-31st May 2009 on a lush new organic site in Somerset!
Early bird tickets are on sale now from Bristol Ticket Shop
£90+bf Very limited availability (full price in advance £99+bf)
Get you tickets now and get Free Entry to Launch Party.
The Award winning Sunrise Celebration is back for its 4th year, radiating creativity, innovation and inspiration!
12 stages, workshops, forums, circus and a whole of of heart.
www.sunrisecelebration.com
