I first came across Orla Wren’s music about three years ago when I used the track ‘Two Note Winter’ in an experimental mix called Rain on Moss, the name was taken from a poem by Yosa Buson and Orla’s music inspired the whole direction that mix took, you can listen to it below. His music featured a lot of extraordinary field recordings which when accompanied by his music made you very detached from the present, a bit like stargazing…that was was probably the most chilled mix I’d ever put together.
So, we were very pleased to hear this week that he has a new album out on the wonderful Home Normal label. Book of the Folded Forest is released on August 15th. The sound on this release is very different, more organic in some respects thanks to the small plethora of fellow like-minded musicians including Danny Norbury, Aaron Martin, Paddy Mann, Jessica Constable, Eva Puyuelo (Savath Y Savalas – Warp), Keiron Phelan (Leaf label luminary), Katie English (Isnaj Dui), Lori Scacco, Joanna Joachim, Frederic Oberland, Hinny Pawsey, Barry Leake, Phil White, Heidi Elva, and Cyril Secq.
Video
The uniqueness of this release doesn’t stop at the line-up, it also features a DVD featuring 7 films by awarding winning directors who were invited to create work based on the tracks. Watch the suspended motion video for Four Feathers Few by Joey Bania and the hugely imaginative video for The Words Under The Wood by LUMACELL:
Track Listing
Tracks: (CD)
01 The Words Under The Wood
02 I Must Live In My Lantern
03 The Wintering Box
04 Willow Bows And Cats Cradles
05 Four Feathers Few
06 Shipwreck Seems Sweet To Me In This Sea
07 The Painting Tree
08 Swallow Tails And The Story Born
09 A Lone Flake Of Sail
10 Things You Cannot Keep
11 Rising Swing Ringing
12 In A Past Life I Was A Woodcarvers Knife
13 Ashes From A Long Fire
Films: (DVD)
01 Lumacell – The Words Under The Wood
02 Joey Bania – Four Feathers Few
03The New Honey Shade – Willow Bows And Cats Cradles
04 Tippi Tillvind – Shipwreck Seems Sweet To Me In This Sea
05 Lumacell – Rising Swing Ringing
06 Elise Baldwin – In A Past Life I Was A Woodcarvers Knife
07 Skinofthetree – Ashes From A Long Fire
Pre-order via Stashed Goods here
Rain on Moss: A mix feat. Orla Wren and many more
Rain on moss by Folk Radio Uk on Mixcloud