I’ve often thought that I have a predilection to aquatic sounds and overtones in music. There were loads of other records I had on the longlist for this episode – so a part two may well be on the cards at one point – but there’s something about water that’s very evocative in music. And then there are aquatic sounds – or compositions that feel watery. But what does that mean? Well, I know I’ve played a couple of his records on previous episodes and spoken a little about them but someone like Ross From Friends manages to capture a kind of submerged, bubbling, shifting feel on some of his compositions and, to me, they often end up conjuring an image as well as, obviously, providing the soundtrack. It may seem like a strange touchpoint but when I think about it, Chris Isaak’s ‘Wicked Game’ from the early 90s is an example of a track that feels watery. What I am keenly aware of is that ‘Wicked Game’ had an iconic video – especially for a young boy, phew – that was shot on a beach with the sea rolling away in the background. So is that the reason why I associate slightly reverby guitars and roomy production with an underwater sound and so anything that is left or right of arc of that gets tarred liberally with a watery brush? Maybe. But I’m not sure. It does sound aquatic though, doesn’t it? It shifts and slides and ebbs and flows… I can only speak from my perspective and whether others get a watery feel from it is up to them to say. But for me if there’s a dash of ‘Wicked Game’ in a piece of music then I’ll be on the shore of it, gazing out to the horizon.
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Despite me talking about it a lot above, 'Wicked Game' isn't included in the episode itself. So here it is below. What a tune.
Cheers,
R
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Spotify episode playlist: https://open.spotify.com/user/rosscale/playlist/35FQoFvxvpbOI5BKuNpmtz?si=2tLRMPzgSbiYEqXB-T-cJw
Threadwork is presented by Ross Cale.
Huge thanks to Bod for production support.
Huge thanks to Bettina Langlois for the Threadwork soft sculptures. Check out some of her other work here: https://www.instagram.com/bettenoire93/
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Twitter: @rosscale