Next up on the Whitelabrecs catalog, we have an album by our label owner Harry Towell under his Spheruleus guise. This record sees our catalog return toAmbient territory but Harry is renowned for creating an Ambient sound that is put together using mainly acoustic sources. ‘Obsolarium‘ is an album inspired by an abandoned Bass Maltings brewery complex with Harry providing photography from the grounds of the Grade II listed building.
Harry’s work is influenced by a variety of genres as his music taste draws in Ambient, Folk, Downtempo Electronica, Jazz, Modern Classical and Deep House to name but a few. Particular artist influences include The Gentleman Losers, Richard Skelton and Offthesky. ‘Obsolarium’ is available now on Whitelabrecsin a very low run of just 50 CDrs.
The album went out to our mailing list subscribers last weekend and most copies have sold – there are just a few left however at time of writing. To find out more or secure your copy, you can click the link below or on the image above to listen. To avoid missing out on future releases, you can join our mailing list HERE
Take a look through this email to find out more or click the link below, or image above.
https://whitelabrecs.bandcamp.com/album/obsolarium
Press release
“Spheruleus is Lincolnshire, UK based sound artist Harry Towell who has previously released work through labels such as Eilean, Home Normal, Hibernate and Under The Spire. Harry has been active as Spheruleus since 2009 with his discography starting on netlabels before progressing to limited edition physical records. Over the years Harry’s musical projects have included blogging, DJing and more recently, running record labels. He is responsible for netlabel Audio Gourmet, occasional physical label Tessellate Recordings and House/Techno label Warehouse Decay.
Harry has been making music one way or another for over 15 years, with early work being more in the Deep House field when he also used to DJ. In his DJing days, Harry’s chosen format was always vinyl which is where the inspiration for his new label for 2016 came from; Whitelabrecs specialises in highly limited edition runs of vinyl-effect CDrs, inspired by some of the white label bootlegs he purchased during the early 2000s. So far we’ve amassed a discography of ten albums varying in style and next, Harry presents an album as Spheruleus entitled ‘Obsolarium’. The record is inspired by the abandoned Bass Maltings complex which is located in Sleaford, Lincolnshire and was formerly used to brew beer up until the late 1950s. The buildings have been pretty much abandoned ever since and due to their impressive stature and Grade II listed status, they have remained an ever present fixture of the landscape surrounding Sleaford, as development or demolition continues to stall.
Harry was simply fascinated by this towering set of buildings and also, its abandoned state of decay which has been a feature in his work for many years. It is not possible to legally enter the premises, so Harry took a series of photos and field recordings standing at the gates and Obsolarium was born. Harry set about weaving decaying sounds of acoustic instruments, samples, drone loops and various lo-fi VST effects. Instruments and sounds used include an out of tune piano at his local village pub, (recorded after everyone had left), a detuned piano at a friend’s house, a violin, classical guitar, voice, harmonica, zither, a warped music box, a cello iPad app and vinyl samples.
Obsolarium tells a story starting with the commercial success of a powerful brewery, the rail links used to distribute the produce before descending into a melancholy reflection of what once was, accompanied all the while with a crumbling disintegration. Whilst everything unravels and fragments, the series of structures remain.”
credits
Catalog number: WLR011
Written and produced by Harry Towell
Mastered by Tim Diagram
Photography by Harry Towell
whitelabrecs.com 