Held By Trees – Talk Talk’s Legacy lives on and is rooted in Dorset

You Need to see / hear this band https://www.wegottickets.com/event/593559#

26th April they play In Chelmsford

read about them in objective words here and Classic Pops ( love that mag ) amazing article on Held By Trees

https://open.spotify.com/embed/artist/1ymZF1ZIsHaqneEoqAi7lz?utm_source=generator

I’m not gonna rant and rave ( well maybe a bit …) but at the risk of sounding like a total loon I’ve had an epiphany / amazing tripple whammy concidence after a big life change

I started working at an amazing company ( warm) it was an amzing experience but also quite stressful for a number of reasons I wont go into the best thing about it was I got to know the amazing and talented Mickey Browne

we worked side by side me as a booking agent and handling multiple tasks/ spinning plates and he running the Re: warm label , getting to work with Mickey and hang out and talk music was / is one of the great pleausres of my life in all honesty.

he gave me loads of great opportunities / laughs and encouragement to ( usually too blue to publish )

I Joke but he is my ROCK and I’m living laughing and loving again xx (eeeee thanks doll face )

1 ) First eeerie coicidence / jungian synchronicty theory in action

Often I would get totally distracted by Mickeys work as he would be playing new / old songs that were going to be included on the various Warm compilations

He was playing the latest comp of the label and night Afficianado ( , DJs Jason Boardman and Moonboots more on them here

and the first track was by Held By Trees – and I had heard it before after good pal and friend of Kerry Robinson Chris Mears sent it to me after we had reconnected after many years and got talking about Talk Talk ( boom tish )

BOOOM sonic booom 

at the Time of hearing it I was blown away and I had forgotten that Chris had mentioned his involvement, months later I got in touch with mutual pal of Mearsey and Kerry  Chris Peddley musician , film maker , face and and bit of a legend as I wanted to get back to DJing and putting on live gigs after a short spurt with Tom Moon at the Poole Hill Brewery nights Desert Shore I mentioned In the Trees and wanting to get involved and maybe put them on and what did he know about them and that they are incredible and I knew a bit about the Talk Talk legacy but not that much but I was ravenous to know more and so is Mickey …

in short

Held By Trees’ debut album brings together eight alumni of the revered Talk Talk albums Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock, and Mark Hollis’ only solo album on new instrumental music.
Alongside the likes of Robbie McIntosh (guitar), Martin Ditcham (drums), Simon Edwards (bass) and Phill Brown (mix), the album also features…
Tim Renwick (Guitar – Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Eric Clapton)
Mike Smith (Saxophone – Blur, Gorillaz, Jamiroquai)
Gary Alesbrook (Trumpet – Super Furry Animals, Kasabian, Noel Gallagher)
Blues/roots legend Eric Bibb.

Boom – 2 number 2 coincidence / event

he said Im going to see / chat with David at my friends studio and do you want to come along meet and have a look – I immediately thought this is so odd / amazing / spoooky

thats a seperate entity in itself the studio – it is rediculous with its own reverb chamber made from a basement ( dig the cosmic hole ! ) – I’m hoping to send some cosmic messages between musicians I love and send them to this unearthly echo womb ( more on this studio at a later date )

I digress

Booooooom mind blow

So I went over and Met David and flipping out both as a fan and reverb nerd- this is a sepearate story in itself …

at the same time Mickey is having a conversation with David and we ( mickey and I ) were texting going wtf they are from Bournemouth ??!!

and now I’m really hoping to help them out / release their music / book them some shows , whatever I can do to spread the notes – the sparsity and beauty are the direct DNA of Mark – its so eeerie

when you think about Mark Hollis classic quote about the space between the music 

“Before you play two notes, learn how to play one note, y’know? And don’t play one note unless you’ve got a reason to play it.” ~ Mark Hollis

and his last leaving remark to a jornalist from the Wire “I think im done ” it had this eerie relevance to my life- ( working in an office with all the crap that goes with it ) and knowing when i’m done and needing and appreciating the space and beauty of the landscape around us and feeling restless ( Mickey and I constantly dreaming and talking hippy bollox about plateus of sound and being lost in nature and the strange pagan heritage and legends of dorset – see Gerald Gardner /

Sybil Leek /

Harry Paye and having moving experiences in this landscape – this is what Held By Trees is all about and it turns out David is from our beloved Dorset and this music was born out of a moment when the world stopped ( COV19)

In short I have a a bewildering urge to make this band heard by whatever means necessary.. It feels so odd to meet David but good odd …I wish I had dug deeper into them and reached out to learn a bit more about them.but TIme is just time right …Its opening up a world of Music to me that ive never had time to dive into Swans / Bark Pyschosis for example and David has a lot of plans and exciting projects coming up

to get a bit personal ive been Struggling with mental health and depression and Talk Talk have meant so much to me and I feel really and blessed to have met David and learnt about his mission to continue the legacy – I’m struggling to convey this but In short if you like Mark Hollis / Rustin man / Ambient / Pink Floyd or just in short MUSIC . please devour and buy everything Held By Tress have made .. enough of my waffle !

PS I had to run to a job interview and what Lennon said “Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans”

but I hope David you read this and we work together. Whatever happens, signed Robin Fan for life and I hope Mickey becomes your dear friend and colaborator too xxxx

Anti Anxiety bliss out Trackz – Sunplus -Casually Here- Algebra Records – Gemcutter – Emma Kate Mathews – Sentics & Seasafari – Talk Talk – notes and spaces

In this crazy time Ive found its best to go over old emails and videos and memories and reconnect with people, I found a great one of Nic Nell at The Lock Tavern, his electronic hyperactive nature and sense of melody and fun where what made me want to put him on the tiny sticky floor of that great disco pub, sadly writing disco Pub just feels sad and the thought of going to a pub now feels like a distant memory …. another was Campari Safari Lock Tavern memory was of the shambolic Wreckless Iraqi who were terrible but lovely people, this is in the last days of Myspace and finding gems in the filth and crap was a full time job! Sadly Wreckless Iraqi are untraceable but I know I just know somewhere in a box of glowsticks and purple hoodies from am app ( dodgy owner sex pest ) their spirit Lives on

back to Nic Nell …

Now he is sharing music on his own label Algebra and its wildly different to his beginnings but with the same attention to detail , novel sounds and wild changes that made his tunes stand out recording as Casually Here

I listened to the Daniel Lopatin- esque in more melodic mode tracks

and was reminded of Gemtree – an artist I was lucky enough to get to know through my work as a Teacher online – Gemtree from Moscow, his productions are crammed with different and abbrasive sounds , some parralels with ARCA as well

go and check out the label, very blissful, like this track here a remix of Sunplus / Rob Shields. This really is a masterwork and broadens the mind, I listened to this cycling along the prom to work in the faded late Corona light past the Chiringuitos and the Palm trees hardly anyone on the prom apart from the crazy cross fit people and other walkers, I saw the father and son I always see at Carihuela and the track seemed to click perfectly, we are all together just trying to keep to routines and living slow life at the moment. rocks r slow life

and here on PELT

and up to date with this colaborative album with lawrence heart on Hotflush, its not really my cup of tea but on slower ambient tracks he shines

stand out material ( for me ) from Algebra is Emma Kate Mathews which shares some DNA coding with aquatic / eco / spacial sounds with Gemcutter and similar in mine and Petes work in Haram Tapes with using field recordings of places visited or passed through , theres also the theme of space between notes (Mark Hollis RIP)

and sounds from around the world, dreaming of spaces and places we would all like to visit … “music is reflected in the EP through the use of spatial recording techniques, binaural panning and the simulation of reflected sound. This forms a virtual sense of depth which subtly expands, contracts and morphs around the listener, creating a spatial narrative from beginning to end.”

it will take you to another space if not another plateu

this is full of good stuff go spend and spend some time with it – boards of canada levels of introspection and wonder will await or whatever youre doing to pass the days

https://soundcloud.com/algebrarecords/sets/sunplus-more-re-colour

and remeber BOP Je !

and Everything you do is a baloon, like Nic told me on an email on the subject of finishing tracks , let it go and dont be precious about making something perfect, let it go or release it , once its mastered its done ! Write record release

write record release

write record release

write record release

if youd like to work on a track , please have this beat https://wsi.li/dl/pauZnHm4KZSRSbsDi/

and email me campari0safari at gmail .com

heres some tracks I made with Markus Sentics with his crunchy guitar lines under the Chessil Beach theme, Im missing the Juraissic coast alot, I watched Broadchurch recently, Dorset people ‘aint like that, Markus is a great musician I hope he puts out some tapes soon ! I miss all my friends and family I cant wait for the new year like everyone elese so I can visit people and places, peace and love if you made it this far through ramblings xxx