Tales from the Black Meadow - The Play

 Back in 2013 - 10 Years Ago on 19th September, Kev KThomas Oyston and I met in the flesh for the first time to launch "Tales from the Black Meadow" at Reading Library. It was a packed event and one that I look back on with real fondness. I have been enmeshed in the world of Black Meadow since then with 4 books, 4 albums and a host of events that explore this strange place and its phenomena.

To celebrate this I am publishing "Tales from the Black Meadow - The Play" on Tuesday 19th September. Back in 2017 I conducted a daft experiment, taking a coach load of students from Reading to Caedmon College in Whitby to perform the play for the first time in one day. We travelled across the Black Meadow through the mist to get there. It was subsequently performed at South Street Arts Centre, Reading and the Bradfield Greeker. It is like a fever dream now but hopefully this little book captures some of it.

I am really chuffed that Bob Fischer, who also attended the premiere, has kindly written a foreword.

Celebrate with us and get lost in the mist.

Something is Coming

 

The Lost Tapes - Out now

Have you heard THE LOST TAPES? 

Out now. 

The missing music from the Black Meadow Archive and an exclusive story discovered exclusively for  this album. Venture into the mist...

After years of campaigning, the Brightwater Archive has finally been opened.

From the recesses of these hidden filing cabinets and dusty boxes the sounds of the Black Meadow pour like the ever pervading mist that hangs over the moors.

Created alongside the book and album ‘The Black Meadow Archive: Volume 1’, this recently ‘found’ album steps into lost hauntological vistas exploring wrathful giants, Coyles and Ghosts of the distant past, sweeping through the bramble and heather before bringing into sharp focus the more recent tragedies that have beset those who dare to wander from the path into the Black Meadow.

released February 5, 2021

https://thesoullessparty-cis.bandcamp.com/album/the-black-meadow-archive-the-lost-tapes

Mark Barton - In Memoriam

We were very sorry to learn that Mark Barton passed away yesterday.
Mark was an exciting and unique music reviewer whose eccentric and personal writings brought a wealth of eclectic musical discoveries to our ears. We were touched by his kind words about the Black Meadow Archive last month.

Our thoughts are with his family at this time.

Take a moment to donate to Cancer Research, have a read of his reviews and hug your family close to you.

The archive is open...

The Black Meadow Archive is open...

You can now buy the book here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Black-Meadow-Archive-1/dp/1688953167

And  the album here: https://thesoullessparty-cis.bandcamp.com/album/the-black-meadow-archive-volume-1

Stay out of the mist...

7 Years... 7 beautiful things...

6 days to go before the release... A huge thanks to Kev Oyston and Colin Morrison for my Black Meadow Archive LP. It is beautiful. and wonderfully designed by Phil Heeks. I thought I'd take the opportunity to celebrate this lovely universe Kev and I have been exploring since 2013. It has been a fantastic journey you lovely man.

"There's dark magic up on those moors." Electronic Sound Review - The Black Meadow Archive Volume 1

Superb review and interview with The Soulless Party's Kev Oyston in this month's Electronic Sound... lovely extract here...

"Some artists create a distinctive sound, others magic up an accompanying persona and backstory. Kev Oyston and Chris Lambert have gone one further: their Black Meadow project has seized control of an area of the North York Moors and used it as the backdrop for a deliberately confusing, unsettling multimedia mix of disturbing folklore and Cold War paranoia.

"...the story is set out in the shadow of an early warning ballistic missile station at RAF Fylingdales where a mysterious village, trapped in a pre-industrialised web of sinister superstition, appears sporadically from the mist. "The Village Under The Lake" is a sweeping orchestral overture with banks of synthetic, otherworldly choirs, impressively echoing the cinema work of John Williams. Meanwhile, "Ghost Planes" reverts to haunted type with the crackle of analog MOD communications and the rumble of discontented synths soundtracking investigations into a mysterious aircraft seemingly spiralling backwards through time. "Song Of The Meadow Bird" is a disquieting pastoral delight, all ersatz harpsichords and flutes, the half forgotten theme to some spooky 1970s BBC children’s drama."

Bob Fischer, Electronic Sound Issue 61, January 2020