PRESS RELEASE BEGINS

Buy the album on Bandcamp here (CD / download / stream): https://leochadburn.bandcamp.com/album/sleep-in-the-shadow-of-the-alternator

PRESS RELEASE:

A radiophonic lullaby for a half-forgotten place and time, Sleep in the Shadow of the Alternator comprises close-miked spoken word, framed by slowly revolving harmonies, intense drones that evoke the hum of electricity, enigmatic field recordings, shimmering bells and the distant rumble of metal percussion.

“The mines were still operational when I was a child. Coal gave its name to the town. The whole area was defined by heavy industry: quarries and monumental factories. Yet, we were also surrounded by beautiful woodland, windswept grassland and outcrops of ancient rock. Eventually, the industrial economy was extinguished. The warehouses were demolished. The pits reverted to nature. 40 years later, I recall my memories of the place as if they were a dream.”—Leo Chadburn

The album unfolds across four tracks, reflecting the changing seasons. Its labyrinthine narrative takes imagery of the landscape as a starting point to explore ideas of absence, return, melancholy and magic, culminating in a science-fiction vision of a post-human England, one thousand years in the future.

File alongside: Eliane Radigue, Robert Ashley, Delia Derbyshire, Derek Jarman.

www.leochadburn.com

Sleep in the Shadow of the Alternator : Credits

Written by Leo Chadburn

Performers:

The words and music were written, produced and performed by Leo Chadburn.

Leo played bass drum, bass recorder, bowed vibraphone, cymbals, glockenspiel, harmonica, harmonium, prepared piano, resonant vessels, shortwave radio, tam tam, thundersheet, wineglasses, and synthesisers by Casio, Roland and Vermona.

George Barton played glass chimes (track 2).

The album was mixed by Jamie Hamilton and Leo Chadburn, and mastered by Sean McCann.

The recording of Sleep in the Shadow of the Alternator was supported by Help Musicians.

Biography

Leo Chadburn is a London-based composer whose unpredictable work includes solo performances that merge his speaking voice with electronic music, music for contemporary classical ensembles, and scores for film and installation art. It has been broadcast on BBC Radio 1, 3 and 6 Music.

Sleep in the Shadow of the Alternator is his eighth solo album, following 2021's Slower / Talker and 2024's The Primordial Pieces, both of which were named in Bandcamp Daily's top ten contemporary classical releases in their respective years.

Leo was known previously by the pseudonym Simon Bookish and released a sequence of subversive “avant-pop” albums, alongside remixes for artists including Owen Pallett, Grizzly Bear and Serafina Steer.

He has been nominated for three Ivor Novello Awards and won a British Composer Award for his piece Freezywater, written for the group Apartment House.

His collaborative work with visual artists includes projects with Cerith Wyn Evans (Irish Museum of Modern Art), Marianna Simnett (Serpentine Gallery), Jennet Thomas (Matt's Gallery) and Jasleen Kaur (V&A). More information / archive: www.leochadburn.com