David Boulter – Yarmouth
Claypipe Music – Out now
Clay Pipe music have announced the second pressing of David Boulter’s ‘Yarmouth’, such was the demand for the first. The album is also available to now stream and download.
Like much of the music released on Clay Pipe, there is a nostalgia and sense of peering through the mists of time on Yarmouth.
David Boulter is no stranger to creating such visual music, the Nottingham-born founding member of Tindersticks, has been based in Prague since 1998 where he has been working on music for films under his own name. These include an eight-part serial Pustina/Wasteland for HBO Europe, the American movie Five Nights In Maine and recently two documentaries with Turkish/Belgian director Volkan Uce.
Turning to Yarmouth, it appears that the inspiration came when David arrived a day early for a show at the Arts Centre in Norwich, and made an impromptu visit by train to the seaside town where he had spent his childhood holidays.
What forged a connection to the music for me, was the suggestion that it “recalls the saturated colours of a John Hinde postcard in musical form.” I’m a keen photographer so I was curious about Hinde and ended up browsing through some of his photos on the John Hinde Collection website (http://www.johnhindecollection.com/) whilst listening to Yarmouth. The combination of music and under-appreciated visuals worked their magic in opening up a far more sensory world. It’s incredibly easy to fall into this album, the music leads you from moments of sublime brightness with brief moments of elation to a deeper sense of melancholy which is by no means an unpleasant experience, more one of peacefulness – and acceptance.
Throughout Yarmouth, David Boulter maintains a spaciousness to his sound which is based around an “old 1970’s Lowrey organ, flutes, violin, vintage tape echo and a Premiere vibraphone”. The results are incredibly effective on tracks like Roller Skates – The Tower Ballroom which presents a large echoey space but rather than the hubbub of a crowded floor, this feels more personal, like a romantic encounter…dreamy. It also captures some of the magic and wonder that individuals maybe felt when first visiting the venue which is maybe lost on us today. This leads beautifully into Morning Mist, mysterious and enchanting, a landscape transformed and suspended in time which we rarely experience but when we do it’s unforgettable.
The more you listen to this album, the more mesmerising it becomes, the titles suggest a sequence in a story, which it is…one that ends on the pier. Some tracks really get beneath the surface and just stick with you, whether it’s the sequencing, something Boulter is a clearly a master of, or the individual emotions the tracks convey, some are unexpectedly deep and sensual like See Saw while Rollercoaster Ride is, as you’d imagine, quite jubilant with hints of 50s music in its undertones. While the percussion used on Across Sea to Sand – Crab Claws perfectly captures the movement of crabs with a nostalgic background field recording of gulls and the sea placing you alone on the sandy beach.
I can recall revisiting seaside towns of my childhood where I hoped to capture again the magic I experienced as a child…it wasn’t what I expected but it did lead me to reminisce and by the end of the day I was left with a strong sense of calm, a result of bathing in memories throughout the day which I may never have experienced had I not taken that journey…reliving them to some degree and then letting them go.
Can you truly recapture the past? Yes and no as we have also changed as individuals but David Boulter’s Yarmouth comes pretty close…
“As I stepped off the train, the weight of time passed hit me. I was overwhelmed by a sense of sadness and loss. As I walked along the streets, looking for Trudy’s, I didn’t expect her, but I did find the house. Slowly, as I recognised buildings, streets, memories. I began to smile. I hadn’t lost anything. Great Yarmouth had changed. So had I. But the warmth of those sunny childhood summers was still there.”
David Boulter 2020
Pre-orders for the second ‘Sunset’ pressing (300 hand numbered copies on sea blue vinyl) are now being taken. Due to long pressing times Clay Pipe have a shipping date of mid January 2021.
Order yours here: https://claypipemusic.greedbag.com/
Read a great interview with David on the Concrete Islands website.