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12 tapes | 10 years

by Joe Borreson & Craig Tattersall

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thisfloatingworld
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thisfloatingworld Extremely captivating work! With its longform format, a very welcoming and soothing sound pallette of acoustic and electronic instruments and elements, but with an ever so diverse yet natural shift between tracks and moods, this record invites the listerner to dive right in to this strong travel in sound. Intimate and expressive at the same time - a quietly monumental album. Recommended. Favorite track: side 2 - lost in the post.
Melissa Sweat
Melissa Sweat thumbnail
Melissa Sweat The music made me feel as if I was spending a languid afternoon in a very old house exploring all its rooms while the afternoon light drifted into dusk - loved these mysterious, beautiful sounds!
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  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    PDFs of all printed materials also included in download.
    This includes:
    28 page booklet which documents the journey both artists went on to create the album.
    4 x A6 double sided postcards.
    1 x A7 double sided print. Folio Scan of screen printed folio.
    1 x digital render screen print
    Purchasable with gift card

      £7 GBP  or more

     

  • 12 months | 10 years Joe Borreson & Craig Tattersall
    Cassette + Digital Album

    Limited edition cassette/folio/booklet/postcard release -
    150 in edition.

    One per customer please.

    Package comes with -

    Cassette -
    Professionally duped cassettes supplied in hand card sleeve.

    Booklet -
    A5 28 page booklet printed on recycled paper housed in hand screen printed folio sleeve with postcard set printed on 280gsm Acquerello card.

    SHIPPING NOTE - due to shipping issues we are unable to post to the following countries
    Italy, Russia & Brazil. Sorry. Please purchase digital only.

    Includes unlimited streaming of 12 tapes | 10 years via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ... more

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about

Tracks 3-7 are Bandcamp Exclusives. Brand new mixes and edits from original recorded material were reworked on Tracks 3, 5 and 7. Tracks 4 and 6 in original forms, as separate tracks, but are mixed into each side in different iterations.

Original Press Release (slightly edited)

The click of a cassette tape. The warm hiss of analog recording. A lingering piano chord held a in the air with an unidentifiable crackling loop that swims around it all: thus begins the first sounds that started 10 years ago.

Craig Tattersall (The Humble Bee/Boats) and Joe Borreson have been cross continental friends since the days of the label moteer:: which Craig ran and curated. Joe wrote Craig expressing nothing more than appreciation & an email based friendship began and they corresponded — often multiple times per week. Their friendship grew from music, to shared appreciations of much else in life. Joe eventually became a small part of the moteer::/mobeer::/cotton goods/boats family with Andrew Hargreaves with some banjo added on one EP and a few secretive projects.

While Craig’s musical endeavours are well known in this community, Joe’s are not — and beyond being a Graphic Designer and a single dad in Napa, California— he also makes music on the side in a more low-key acoustic (semi-experimental ambient) format. After creating a musical interpretation of an Emmanuel Witzthum track for the label Cotton Goods, Criag invited Joe to create an EP which was released in a secretive manner and inevitably this led to the friends wanting to produce music together, but not by purposefully not swapping digital files as many artists do these days. The inspiration was a the prompt of each month of the year.
Instead by collaborating through 12 cassette tapes using 4 track tape recorders, via the traditional postal service. Like audio penpals, each person started one track per tape with a musical idea and or a field recording created and then posted to the next person, while the other responded musically back and forth (each artist had 6 tapes to start with) and building layers built upon layers, sometimes musically, sometimes with field recordings, until each track felt right.

Alongside this process, visual references were collected and shared to create a rich and complex aural expression. Joe and Craig initially wanted to create 12 total tracks, one to correspond to each month of the year. For instance, January was naturally a beginning, which Craig utilized the star constellation, Capella as the birth of a star. A 12 minute track was created by the two gentlemen with tapes crossing the Atlantic ocean from the UK to the US and back again. Each month, they also exchanged a tangible item to be inspired by that was tied to that particular month or piece: a Postcard from Paris (August, Tape 8), a letter between lovelorn sweethearts from New Mexico, USA (March, A Letter, Tape 3), even a handmade map with markings for where field recordings were made (April, A Walk, Tape 4) but specific colours, tastes, smells and photographs became inspiration, each based on one month the year.

The recorded tapes were changed and recorded in that pattern until most were nearly complete or at least started with each artist adding audio responses but ultimately not all the tracks were fleshed out and some were left with just the initial ideas — as the busyness of work and life in general sometimes got in the way — however, though all this and even years after the music was set aside, they knew they had something special but just needed more time to complete the project. 

It wasn’t until late 2019 when, through another round of chats that Craig and Joe pulled all the unused collected audio from field recordings, piano phrases, tape loops, guitar, vocals, lingering piano chords and banjo strums, were formed into a more completed song structure. The result is this album: two long form audio tracks ( and now the bonus digital only tracks) all mixed and melded together, and one portion flowing into the next, much as the days and months flow into each other; finally by early 2020 it began to feel right. 

After several years of tapes flying across the seas with this and aural and visual collaboration, and two more of creating an audio collage of all the tracks melded into 2 long parts, these audio penpals felt it was finally time to share the magic they’d gleaned for others to listen to and appreciate the warmth and subdued nature of these many years worth of collaborative recordings.

Side one / delivered ( tracks 1 & 2) are based upon the nearly completed 12 months project, melded into one long-form track. These are not in chronological order of recordings, rather ordered in a way that felt right. Craig was the mastermind behind this concept and takes all the credit for doing it this way.

Side two / lost in the post: The fully complete tracks melded into one long-form track.

Of note— 
the artistic items/images (in physical form) which were a big part of what went into the folios, booklet and postcards showing most all of the creation were also created/gathered and collected by Craig and Joe who collaboratively laid out and designed and screen printed (Craig hand printed the folios), the booklets and postcards using the source and found art which stemmed from original photos by Joe, Letters and images gifted and purchase, maps sourced from public archives and drawn upon by Joe, a real letter from 1929, and the Capella booklet which was designed and created by Craig.

Special shout out to Bryan Ruhe who’s beautiful photo was given as a gift to Craig as the cover art, and to Ian Hawgood who’s mastering brought so much more depth and detail to the music we hardly knew was hidden in the tape hiss.

Made by hand. Originally released via Fluid Audio/Facture by Daniel Crossley, July 2021

-1 x pro-dubbed C-90 matt black cassette tape:
Side A 45 mins / Side B 46 mins (note bonus digital tracks 3-7 are NOT included on the cassette tape)

-1 x hand assembled / screen printed folio (all completely unique). Printed on 300gsm recycled card stock. Note a few have some ink on the edges.

-1 x A5 28 page booklet printed on uncoated paper. The book contains the images that document the journey both artists went on to create the album.

-4 x A6 double sided postcards / printed on luxury Acquerello card stock (280gsm)

-1 x A7 double sided print / printed on luxury Acquerello card stock (180gsm)

-1 x Stumptown cassette cover (315gsm) / edited hole cut design
-Stamped / hand numbered

-All above (excepting the tape) rests inside the aforementioned screen printed folio covers

-Download includes PDF artwork that documents the making of the album
Limited to 150 copies (on a C90 cassette tape)
Made with love...

credits

released August 6, 2021

Music: Joe Borreson & Craig Tattersall

Mastering: Ian Hawgood 
Screen Printing design: Craig Tattersall 
Packaging/Layout design: Joe Borreson / Craig Tattersall / Daniel Crossley 
Cover photo: Bryan Ruhe

Thank you for listening. J & C. x

LABEL: www.fluidaudio.co.uk

CRAIG: www.leavings.co.uk

JOE: joeborreson.bandcamp.com
DESIGN — dustclouddesign.com

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the humble bee Manchester, UK

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