Running Tracks

Made in the gap between March and May 2020, John Newton (vocalist / drummer of London based two-piece John) presents Running Tracks under the guise Total Wkts. An album embracing the limitations and possibilities of a spell away from his usual surroundings in South London.

Having moved back into his childhood town in the rural South West of England, the tracks are treated as playful collages, incorporating various sampled sounds in each composition: bird noises become stuck in the programming of drum tracks, inhalation between spoken lines is left to remain. The incidental is encouraged throughout the entire project, opener HP Envy taking its name from the household printer that sets its rhythm, offering overlaid lyrics that repurpose the words of a spam email received during its production. Animal Dream and Miniature Police follow the same vein, the songs built from the verbal retellings of dreams. The name Total Wkts becomes an emblem of his approach. The two words taken from a sign seen on his daily run through the rural landscape, with most of the tracks also written and arranged whilst on this repetitive circuit.