drum & bell tower
Williams Lake, British Columbia, Canada | SELF
Music
Press
Timeless techno
soars
Drum & Bell Tower
By Kevin Kane
The packaging for the “The Black Need” - a plain brown cardboard case with a red wax seal on the front (done individually for each disc, as though it were a letter sent by a medieval French king!) - is a fitting metaphor for the music it contains: a melding of time- less tradition and technology. Drum & Bell Tower is essentially Williams Lake resident Brent Morton, strumming and drumming into his computer. Over the course of the album, D&BT drifts and shifts through the various elements that comprise its sound: swirling psychedelic folk-rock, thumping techno, spaced-out ambience, murky vocals/ lyrics that sound like half-remembered dreams, and the occasional prog-like odd time signature. In fact, like one of those epic double vinyl releases of the early 70s, “The Black Need” has an almost conceptual flow to it (though I’ve yet to ascertain exactly what the concept might be).
Try to imagine DJ Shadow collaborating with Aphex Twin and sampling heavily from Pink Floyd, Kraftwerk, Red House Painters, Mike Oldfield, Sigur Ros, and David Bowie’s Berlin period instrumentals. That gives you a general idea, but it really only just scrapes the surface of an album that feels slightly different each time I play it.
16 | BC Musician | December 2008
- BC Musician
Timeless techno
soars
Drum & Bell Tower
By Kevin Kane
The packaging for the “The Black Need” - a plain brown cardboard case with a red wax seal on the front (done individually for each disc, as though it were a letter sent by a medieval French king!) - is a fitting metaphor for the music it contains: a melding of time- less tradition and technology. Drum & Bell Tower is essentially Williams Lake resident Brent Morton, strumming and drumming into his computer. Over the course of the album, D&BT drifts and shifts through the various elements that comprise its sound: swirling psychedelic folk-rock, thumping techno, spaced-out ambience, murky vocals/ lyrics that sound like half-remembered dreams, and the occasional prog-like odd time signature. In fact, like one of those epic double vinyl releases of the early 70s, “The Black Need” has an almost conceptual flow to it (though I’ve yet to ascertain exactly what the concept might be).
Try to imagine DJ Shadow collaborating with Aphex Twin and sampling heavily from Pink Floyd, Kraftwerk, Red House Painters, Mike Oldfield, Sigur Ros, and David Bowie’s Berlin period instrumentals. That gives you a general idea, but it really only just scrapes the surface of an album that feels slightly different each time I play it.
16 | BC Musician | December 2008
- BC Musician
Discography
Drum & Bell Tower
The Black Need (2008)
Scratch Out Your Name (2010)
Burn Beneath the Water (2011)
My Back Pages:
The Anderson Counsel
-Live (1998)
-Epitheriotomy (2001)
-Opulent Minority (2002)
The Escape Goats
Untitled (2002)
The Nihilo Fits
Self Titled (2003)
Funeral Songs
We are a sign that is not read (2004)
Broken Glass Played in the Band (2005)
Measures in Response (2006)
Funeral Songs & Quadrant Khan
Root Circuitous (2007)
Photos
Bio
Drum & Bell Tower Bio
Friends,
Walking around the old core of Xi'an, China, I was struck by the predominance of two structures--the Drum Tower and the Bell Tower. These buildings dedicated to the two most essential elements of music took me on a trip, and I decided to change the name of my musical act from Funeral Songs, four-albums in, to Drum & Bell Tower.
My first solo acoustic album is of songs that were the result of an inspirational festival season in '09 and a desire to move away from electronic music in favour of acoustics.
The festival that most moved me in that summer was ArtsWells, and in particular, the Wax Mannequin show. For propers, I named this latest album after a line in the first song on his new record "Saxon".
I recorded "Scratch Out Your Name" in Wells, BC, in November of '09 in the cozyl Wells United Church; it had been the acoustic venue for many amazing shows at ArtsWells festivals over the years.
Leading up to the recording, and during it, I had been reading a variety of non-fiction books on ecology, economics, and the empire, as well as a number of books by Cormac McCarthy. I think the lyrics reflect that focus, as they are often dark and heavy.
The recording process was fairly basic. I laid all drum, hi-hat and guitar tracks live, adding vocals and harmonies after. I mixed it myself but had sense enough to send it away for mastering to Beck Audio in Victoria.
In the early spring of 2011, I returned to Wells to record another album. With a few more tricks up my sleeve and a bit of help from some wise friends, I've produced a new album that has a more polished and clean sound. The title is Burn Beneath the Water, and it will be officially released in August of 2011.
Thanks for reading and for listening,
Yours,
Brent Morton / Drum & Bell Tower
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