Northumbria: Listening Notes
Critical Reaction To Northumbria
‘Intensely rewarding … captivating guitar playing … musically evocative … great harmonies … [Northumbria is] truly authentic, it both connects and communicates with a brutal honesty.’
(Folk Roots Radio UK)
‘Earthy … hypnotic … vivid … brave … a stellar piece of work.’
(Alt-Pulse)
‘A great listen […] Beautiful tunes … The lyrics are stunning … a clear ring to the playing … [Northumbria] takes you on a journey from the dark to the light … it’s a rather good album.’
(Folking)
Album Title:
Northumbria
Track Listing:
Endings
No Sailor Leaves the Sea
Peter’s Fields
In Sunshine’s Shadow
Love Song To ... (The Sense of an Ending)
I Know What You Are
Beginning
This Green and Pleasant Land
Release Date:
May 1st 2020
Availability:
Download from The Landing Stage website. Limited edition CD run (25 units. Sold out).
What is Northumbria?:
The debut album by musician, ConChie.
Who is ConChie?:
Dr. Aaron Jackson, Northumbria's author; and a nom-de-plume adopted to give a degree of creative flexibility going forward.
How was Northumbria recorded?:
In an old barn in the North-east of England on a 1970's TEAC quarter-inch reel-to-reel four track, using one Rode NT1 microphone and an OM-28 guitar sourced by Mark de Neys of Westside Distribution. An old Cooper's tea-chest, which was used for percussion.
All musical sounds made on the album were made using these instruments. Altered tunings were extensively explored to address the challenge of having to learn to play the guitar again after nearly a decade unable to. These explorations contributed significantly to the unique sounds of each composition.
The recording process also involved a 'found sound' approach, using live environment recordings drawn from Sheffield, Manchester, Newcastle and the Northumbrian landscape.
Along with the album's thematic cohesiveness, these approaches helped create Northumbria's immersive soundscapes and cinematic and evocative atmospheres.
What Are The Main Themes of Northumbria?:
Northumbria’s eight-song cycle of interrelated themes and layers explores the ways people, places, past histories and previous identities come together in our lives to form present realities and future stories.
Fierce, redemptive and joyous, drawing from personal experiences, the relationship of the author and his family to Northumbria and the interrelation of their histories with that of the UK's most evocative, wild and storied region Northumbria reclaims family, home and love to reinvest each as central to our capacity to endure, survive and live.
Where is the album art from?:
The cover image is from Mark Bradshaw. Mark is a world-class photographer with a unique eye. His image of the Northumbrian landscape caught in winter as it gives way to spring was the only choice for the album cover. His website is www.markbradshawphotography.com
Does ConChie play live?:
Yes. He's also available for weddings and bar mitzvahs - just not during lockdown.
©℗ A. I. Jackson
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The first Origin(al) Stories Journal was a blog launched to track the nine months that went into the writing and recording of the Northumbria album. You can read about the thought processes behind that here.
Following the launch of The Landing Stage website, I’ve decided to continue with the Origin(al) Stories posts.
The Landing Stage showcases some of the things I do.
The Origin(al) Stories posts show some of the thoughts and processes and activities that go into those acts of doing.
Drawn from my personal diaries and journals, the posts might often seem unconnected, elliptical and fragmentary.
This is because the Origin(al) Stories blog doesn’t offer the definitive conclusions, hacks, lists or ‘how to …’ advice beloved of Youtube gurus, bro-science and self-help manuals.
This is because there’s no one road through the forest, no one route to the top of the mountain, no one path to where you want to be and what you want to do.
The Origin(al) stories only shows how I’ve found a path through to doing something.
The path always has to give you as much as the destination.
They are, as I noted in the original post about it, postcards from the journey. Snapshots of work in progress - which is what all lives and endeavours are.
If you’ve liked an Origin(al) Stories post, or it’s helped you with something you’re doing in some way, please share it to your socials, and give credit. All content on this website is copyrighted and attributable.
If you’d like to listen to Northumbria, download it here.
If you’d like to listen to Alnwyck Jameson Badger, download it here.
If you’d like to listen to Broken Oars Podcast, download it here.
Thanks for reading. Have a great day. Tell the people you love that you love them. Be a positive force.