memory band with belbury poly & grantby: further navigations

rsd 2014. The Further Navigations EP is a continuation of the themes which informed The Memory Band album On the Chalk (Our Navigation of the Line of the Downs) also released on Static Caravan. Featuring remixes from Belbury Poly and Grantby and a brand-new Memory Band track, the EP draws inspiration from the ancient "lost road" that is the Harrow Way. The choice of collaborators are two producers who have had a profound impact on The Memory Band sound in different ways, but both bring to the fore the cinematic elements of Stephen Cracknell's approach to traditional music. For "Hobby Horse" Belbury Poly takes the blueprint from the Memory Band's version of the traditional funeral march "When I Was on Horseback," transforms it by speeding it up, flicking the swing setting and producing something that sounds like David Munrow making music for schools on analog synthesizers. Grantby takes the traditional ballad "As I Walked Over Salisbury Plain" and tweaks it into "The Ballad of Imber Down." The Memory Band original "Walk Along It" borrows heavily from the anonymous and haunting version of the traditional English tune "The Lincolnshire Poacher," broadcast from a shortwave numbers station and believed to be operated by the British secret services. Limited edition of 500 copies.