{"title":"Downfield Records","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"in-this-place","title":"In This Place","description":"\u003cp\u003eA heady blend of alt-folk, analogue synth and classical composition, \u003ci\u003eIn This Place\u003c\/i\u003e is a tale of quiet rebellion, and taking back control. Fittingly, the new album marks the start of another new journey for Mara. \u003ci\u003eIn This Place\u003c\/i\u003e is the first record to be released on Downfield Records, a non-profit imprint set up by Simpson, placing artists at it’s centre.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBacked by a band of accomplished musicians (Jools Owen (Bears Den) on drums, James Smith (Anaïs Mitchell) on banjo, Alexandra Hamilton-Ayres on clarinet and strings by Poppy Ackroyd) on \u003ci\u003eIn This Place\u003c\/i\u003e, Mara sounds the most confident she’s ever sounded. With her new material, Mara Simpson hopes to promote a gentle, yet radical shift toward kindness and it’s this warmth that can be both heard and felt across her new record.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Downfield Records","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":50512864379211,"sku":"1127298","price":11.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/c85212ef-ea40-4206-8693-12cf0f64260c_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727908672"},{"product_id":"living-matter","title":"Living Matter","description":"\u003cp\u003eMara Simpson is a multi-instrumentalist, performing artist, songwriter, producer and composer. Her work seamlessly blends electronic, acoustic and orchestral instruments, exploring her love for tape delays, analogue synths and field recordings. Her fourth studio album \u003cem\u003eLiving Matter\u003c\/em\u003e, written and engineered in the Stroud, Gloucestershire recording studio she handwrought, will be released via Republic of Music with the vinyl featuring liner notes by DJ, presenter and podcaster Edith Bowman.  \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eLiving Matter\u003c\/em\u003e is a unique album written in response to a set of poems by celebrated poet and fellow Stroud dweller JLM Morton published in her book Red Handed. Born out of a mutual admiration of one another's work, and a friendship fostered in wild swimming, Morton asked Simpson to come up with a live score for the performance of her and writer Emma Kernahan’s book, Glos Mythos. This collaboration planted the seeds for what would blossom into a full-length album, atop plans for Glos Mythos to tour nationally this year  \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePredominantly instrumental, with passages of field recording segways and explorative sound design each of the ten tracks featured on the album is a response to a different poem in the collection. Inspired by the landscape of Mara’s Stroud home (also the birthplace of Extinction Rebellion and poet, novelist and screenwriter Laurie Lee) and its mystical history (from the area’s pre-Roman Dobunni tribe to the spirits Genii Cucullati) and water goddesses (Cuda and Sulis Minerva whom they worshipped), it explores themes of identity and artefact, memory and belonging, but most of all the brief and fleeting nature of both human and non-human existences and the futility of perceived otherness between all of us \u003cem\u003eLiving Matter\u003c\/em\u003e. With a setup consisting of tape machines, analogue synths, drums, piano and strings, \u003cem\u003eLiving Matter\u003c\/em\u003e draws together the signature electronic and acoustic worlds Simpson has become known for in her cross-arts compositions. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Downfield Records","offers":[{"title":"LP - Brown","offer_id":51432001208651,"sku":"R0142-5731","price":29.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/unnamed-2025-03-12T141435.413.jpg?v=1741788883"}],"url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/de\/collections\/downfield-records.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}