I A Moon - RSD 2020

Written throughout the Autumn and Winter of 2010 / 2011 by band leader and guitarist Craig Fortnam with a pencil and paper, guitar and piano and recorded 'at various locations in southern England on his laptop', I A Moon retains the unique North Sea Radio Orchestra line-up of strings, woodwind, percussion, guitars, keyboards and voices but with a darker, less pastoral sound, with synth and percussion taking a more prominent role than on their previous two albums.

Another departure is a move away from using poetry to the more personal use of self-penned lyrics: "I a moon, orbiting myself. Sometime gravity pulls me close…". On this release, the influences apparent on the first two albums (Britten, Vaughan Williams, Reich, ISB, 70's prog) have been augmented by a distinct whiff of Krautrock (on the instrumental Berliner Luft) while the angular guitars of Ring Moonlets show a debt to the dual guitar textures of Deerhoof.

North Sea Radio Orchestra continue to blend their influences in a highly imaginative and unusual way, while all the time having an ear for the beautiful, be it in melody, texture or chord. North Sea Radio Orchestra - I A Moon; beautiful, redolent, ancient and modern, English and world, unique.