Despite being a difficult subject to put into words, nostalgia nevertheless attracts a great deal of fascination and is something that every individual can relate to. It is often close to the heart of the artist, shaping their identity and aesthetic and providing the inspiration for many a project. We welcome back Wil Bolton to Hibernate with his first vinyl release; we are pleased to present an album that places nostalgia at the heart of its overriding theme. It was conceived when Wil set out to create an album that was inspired by the guitar bands he listened to as a teenager, such as The Cure, The Smiths, The Velvet Underground and My Bloody Valentine. He strived to transmit his nostalgic recollection of adolescent musical influences into a heavily treated, droned out muffled and crumbling sonic environment. He wanted to create something that sonically presents his nostalgia, sounding submerged or decaying, as if heard through a veil the way memories and images become distorted over time.
The album title Under A Name That Hides Her is a quote from The Space of Literature by Maurice Blanchot and is a reference to the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. It’s a book that Wil read around 15 years ago and this quote in particular has always stayed with him. When working on this album, it somehow seemed to reflect that nostalgic, romantic yearning for something lost that inspired these tracks. Despite the treated droning textures that form the basis of Under A Name That Hides Her, Wil cites it as his least digital work to date. The sounds were mostly pooled from an electric guitar and fed through complex chains of effects pedals and loopers. Field recordings also formed a central part of the album and they include the sound of birdsong in the ruins of a medieval castle in Beaumaris, North Wales, the lapping of waves around a lighthouse in Anglesey, rain on the window of Wil’s flat in Chinatown, Liverpool, a train journey in North Africa and a forest in the Scottish Highlands.
Released by Hibernate Recordings on LP including download code, in an edition of 200 (first 100 copies include CD), 16 May 2012
Written and produced by Wil Bolton
Mastered by Taylor Deupree
Photography by Wil Bolton
Art direction by Ian M Hazeldine
Hibernate Recordings HB41
www.hibernate-recs.co.uk
Digital edition via Bandcamp
Interview by Richard Outram at Fluid Radio about the making of the album.
Reviews
“Wil Bolton is something of a Hibernate Recordings veteran, having released music on the label and its Rural Colours sister label since 2010. I haven’t heard them all but I doubt there’s much in his esteemed back catalogue that quite matches the ethereal lightness of touch achieved on Under A Name That Hides Her.
From the squeak and caw of birds on ‘Clearing’ to the quiet closing babble of water on ‘Passing’, Wil Bolton’s sublime new album is one that pays distant respect to nature, hovering above and circling around without ever touching down, like a fine wisp of sheep’s wool momentarily snagging on purple heather. The titles hint at awe and wonderment but at a remove: ‘Clearing’, ‘Skyview’ and the threatening ‘Barbed’. Nothing is graspable (‘Dissolve’), all is movement (‘Passing’) and everything bleeds into one gloriously lucid stream of gentle, patient and thought-provoking music.
Through a combination of field recordings, acoustic manipulation and subtle electronics, Bolton creates ever-changing soundscapes and ambient textures that mirror the nature of the land above which they float. It’s largely rural, occasionally maritime, mostly fresh aired and undoubtedly beautiful but there is an inescapable sense of sadness throughout. On tracks like ‘Passing’, with its sporadic cracks, disembodied voices and faintly menacing back-forth plod one thinks of fog enshrouded moor tops and Brontë’s quiet earth sleepers. Things that went before, things left unsaid, things that refuse to be forgotten.
It’s tempting to read the album as one on which darkness gradually descends but I risk making it sound gloomier than it really is. Certainly the journey begins and ends in different locations both physically and emotionally but the atmosphere is mainly wistful, not depressed. To begin with, ‘Clearing’ is as open and airy as you would expect, and full of life from the birds to the chimes. You could say it relies on genre topos but Bolton uses them in such ways as to give them new life, burying them far enough in the mix so as to create subliminal pulses of memory as you wander old haunts. ‘Blackpoint’ – an album stand-out and it’s most tormented passage – mixes running water with slowly engulfing shards of electronic flashback, while ‘Barbed’ is it’s most distant and reflective moment. The chatter of birds that rises above ‘Dissolve’ carries it into the clouds on a gently ebbing bed of manipulated string swipes and offers sweet respite before ‘Passing’.
Under A Name That Hides Her is an album that richly rewards repeat listens. Small details reveal themselves at every turn – from the creaks of rocking chairs to high-pitched electronic whines – but what endures is the overall feeling it all creates when combined with such skill. Tantalising intangibility, the use of dislocation through vague familiarity and the enviable ability to manoeuvre the listener with the very softest of touches has allowed Wil Bolton to create an album of sublime psychological subtlety and one you’ll find yourself returning to over and over again.” – Fluid Radio
“It’s not the first record by Wil Bolton that I listen to but it’s the first one to capture my attention and to feed my imagination so I keep on playing it.
There are a few reasons for that. First nostalgia is the main theme so it is filled with intimate partially blurred and dissolved melancholy. Secondly he found inspiration in the guitar bands he listened to as a teenager, like The Cure, The Smiths, The Velvet Underground and My Bloody Valentine, and thirdly as a consequence he gives more space to the guitar and to his manipulation and less place for digital processing and conception.
Anyways it is a mostly ambient record, mixing drones, quiet electric guitar playing and natural field recordings.
“Clearing” opens the record abruptly, directly we are plunged inside, sunrise sounds of guitar with singing birds announcing the dawn and recurring xylophone sounds; waves on the seashore for the nocturnal and pensive “Blackpoint”, laying at dusk on a meadow, watching the appearing starry sky on “Skyview”, while the wind and the birds are playing in trees around, “Barbed” is for the rainy days, stuck inside, feeling almost wasted and filled with regrets until an hypothetical weather change.
Finally the sun is back, and the appeasement, beautiful spring walk in the countryside for “Dissolve”, full of life and green luxuriance. It ends on the introspective and wintry “Passing”, with snowy landscape recovering souvenirs of last summer and spring.
As a whole, “Under a name that hides her” is a nice and recommended album which is remarkably fulfilling and ask you for space, time and for slowing down a few hours.” – Derives
“UK-based experimental ambient artist Wil Bolton‘s LP Under a Name That Hides Her will be out soon and mark the musician’s proper full-length debut, despite already having released a string of EPs on various imprints and under a couple of guises. The record, comprising six expansive tracks with a total running time of 37 minutes, is a slowly meandering piece of intriguing contemplation. It was composed mainly by employing looped electric guitars and unobtrusive field recordings that nonetheless play a crucial role in the overall concept, mostly having been recorded on various sites across Britain – birdsongs in the ruins of a medieval castle in Beaumaris, North Wales, the lapping of waves around a lighthouse in Anglesey, rain on the window of Bolton’s flat in Chinatown, Liverpool, and the sounds of a forest in the Scottish Highlands – thereby evoking a faintly and indistinctly nostalgic feel, as if referring to a distant past that probably never actually existed. The LP’s title, a quote from The Space of Literature by Maurice Blanchot, is a reference to the tragic myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, thus intensifying the sense of loss and unfulfilled yearning.” - No Fear Of Pop
“It’s hard not to have an immense amount of respect for artists that can draw so much emotion out of so little. “Passing” has a soundwave that looks like it would make for a terribly unimaginative listen. Yet, underneath the drones and the repetitions is something unique, something affecting. It’s unassuming, but it’s there, hidden and waiting to be found by the special few who look, like the best things in life.” – Middle Class White Noise
“Combining drone backgrounds with environmental sounds and sparkling guitar themes, Wil Bolton manages to create music that sounds every bit as fresh as the cover image indicates.” – Ambientblog
“Consistency is a vastly under-appreciated virtue in music. Too often consistency can be read as boring, unadventurous, unwilling to take new risks and grow as a musician and artist. There’s an element of truth in that, for some musicians (those reliant upon formula from a marketing angle especially). But when work from a certain artist remains at a steady rate of high quality over a period of years, then why try to fix what just isn’t broken? Sometimes adventure is overrated.
Liverpool’s Wil Bolton is one such consistent artist, and a reliably stunning one. For the last few years he’s released a slew of very rewarding material, much of it via Hibernate, and much of it treading familiar ground of mellow ambient drones and field recordings. Under A Name That Hides Her isn’t exactly a departure from his usual work, but it is a frequently solid, rewarding album that exemplifies a high level of familiarity with, and achievement within, its context. Music like this may have many proponents, but few can pull off work this engaging and subtly beautiful. “Blackpoint” throbs with gentle waves of distant feedback storms and the splashed water of a sample. and cleverly never resolves its tension into a showy crescendo, while “Clearing” is a chiming slice of glitchy buzz backed with seagulls and gentle guitar. “Dissolve’ rides a wave of plucked bass and processed strings over a bed of birds. The most uplifting of these tracks is “Skyview”, with a soaring melody that puts one in the mind of a slightly more vibrant, less studied Stars Of The Lid.
There’s been a lot of talk about a renaissance in the Liverpool music scene, and there’s hope that there’ll be more to discuss of the city’s sounds than the all-shadowing omnipresence of The Beatles. Wil Bolton as well an act like, say, Forest Swords, paint very different pictures of the same city, which has largely given over to urban decay and abandonment in recent years. The presence of these field recordings conjure up expected natural elements (a tidal marsh under an overcast sky, an open field), but there’s something threatening here as well, a sense of disquiet, the marsh lying on the edge of a polluted harbor or the littered field spread out next to a choking motorway. That the atmospheric quality of Bolton’s music can conjure up so many impressions and remain so addictively listenable in the process speaks volumes about his immense talent.” – A Closer Listen
“‘Under a Name that Hides Her’ possesses a natural charm. It reminds me strongly of Shuttle 358’s approach to field recordings. They aren’t overwhelmed. Rather the field recordings add variety to Wil’s moving pieces. Each track gradually evolves. Most of the tracks appear to have been recorded near a running body of water. Such sounds increase the level of contemplation. The guitar tuning complements the field recordings nicely as well.
‘Clearing’ is the closest to a purely nautical sound. On the track the bell-like ring of the guitar makes it unmistakably sea-influenced. This continues for some time as the guitar goes further down into deeper and deeper sounds. In fact this may be the most memorable track on the entire album due to its extreme clarity. ‘Blackpoint’ puts the guitar further back at the field recording take over for most of the track. Here the guitar adds a shadowy vibe to the song, elongated, distant, and drone-like at times. The rest of the album transforms into quiet, pastoral pieces. A few of them ring reminiscent of Stars of the Lid’s approach to the guitar such as ‘Skyview’, a tender sweet little piece which hides its original source instrument extremely well.
The album is divided into two parts: the first part represents the more tangible aspects of the sound. As the album continues it drifts further and further away from consciousness. Even the field recordings take on a different dimension as the guitar’s gauzy sound is spread over them. ‘Under a Name that Hides Her’ is an achingly beautiful album about drifting away from reality.” – Beach Sloth
“Wil Bolton poses a musical alchemy that is rivalled by few of his peers. His work weaves a multitude of sonic sources into coherent, structured and effecting compositions, which delicately balance a dichotomy between the personal and the objective. His recent records ‘Quarry Bank’, ‘Silver’ and ‘Kollane’ have all dealt with the sonic exploration of places and the emotions evoked by these places. On ‘Under a Name That Hides Her’ Wil has embraced the even more daunting task of exploring an emotion, nostalgia.
Nostalgia is a difficult emotion to clarify, both ecstatic and meditative, euphoric and unnerving, this sense of longing for the past is an intense and defining emotion and a powerful point of musical investigation. Triggering it, however, is not easy; a simple minor chord progression will not provoke the ‘romantic yearning for something lost’ that is declared in the press release. Instead Wil illuminates nostalgic sensibilities through processed acoustic swells, electronic pulses and guitar, interspersed with field recordings, which fill in the gaps and create a pliable layer between the ethereal and the real. This all combines to create a muffled and crumbling sonic environment in which the listener’s memories are provoked and augmented by the emotional tableaux created by wave upon wave of melody.
This sound palette will be instantly familiar with any Bolton fan, what might surprise though is his use of the guitar. Here it is not merely a source of sound, shaped and mutated beyond recognition, but instead a recognisable instrument, complete with all its cultural idioms and connotations. This provides a point of departure from his recent work and opens a dialogue between past and present, allowing us both a unique insight into Wil’s own musical nostalgia and the time and space to revel in our own.
His control over the component parts of the mix continues to impress, with each release growing in clarity and purpose. This makes the effect of the gradual change in these compositions more profound; loops drift in and out of focus, as memories meander through the subconscious in multiple permutations, until one gains foothold in the confines of reality. Pastoral and transcendent, this is music that clothes you in memories, both happy and sad are represented, but the ultimate feeling that remains after the album’s final coda is an overwhelming sense of relief. This record is like an auditory spring clean; it gives tangible expression to thoughts and emotions that have too long been hidden.
The title ‘Under A Name That Hides Her’ is a line taken from ‘The Space of Literature’ by Maurice Blanchot and is a reference to the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. Wil Bolton succeeds where Orpheus failed. He has ventured into the dark night of his memories and pulled them back toward the light, providing a counter narrative and giving them shape and form in the reality of day. Each composition is a reflective element of his soul, mirrored within which the listener finds a recognizable part of the self. This record is more than just an exercise in nostalgia, it’s raw emotion, open heart and generous soul offers the listener a means by which to ease their own points of suffering and exercise the demons lurking within their past.” – Future Sequence
“Il fait aujourd’hui figure de vétéran de la scène ambiant, cofondateur du label Boltfish, Wil Bolton - plus connu sous le nom de Cheju - préfère cependant faire confiance à Hibernate Records pour faire paraître ses œuvres les plus abstraites comme Time Lapse (sorti en 2010). Mais aujourd’hui nous allons pluôt nous préoccuper de son dernier long format en date : « Under A Name That Hides Her », pressé il y a quelques jours et en seulement 200 exemplaires physiques. Pour la petite anecdote ce titre fait référence à une citation du philosophe français Maurice Blanchot dans « L’espace littéraire » faisant mention au mythe du poète et musicien Orpheus et de sa mystérieuse compagne Eurydice. Le producteur est prolifique en ce début d’année et ne se soucie pas d’une quelconque démarche commerciale, ce qui est assez appréciable pour l’auditeur.
Je préfère cependant vous prévenir tout de suite ce long format n’est pas fait pour toute les oreilles qui sont malheureusement de moins en moins apte à écouter et surtout à comprendre la profondeur d’une telle œuvre, car on atteint ici le sommet de l’abstraction et du minimalisme avec « uniquement » une guitare électrique pour instrument et un laptop. Wil Bolton est un de ces producteurs qui prennent le temps de s’assoir et d’écouter avant de composer, un de ces producteurs qui ont la faculté de pouvoir capter la nostalgie des lieux qui les entoure et de la transcrire avec une justesse désarmante. Tout semble si naturel dans ces morceaux et cela est en grande partie dû à la qualité sonore irréprochable de la guitare dont les harmonies s’entremêlent sublimement avec les field recordings et forment ainsi la quintessence de la musique de Bolton. Ce véritable orfèvre nous dépeint pendant plus de trois quart d’heures des natures mortes d’une extrême poésie, les notes fragiles ainsi que les nappes de bruits ambiants donnent une sensibilité incomparable aux différents morceaux qui composent cet album et forment un tout unique et tellement mélancolique… Notre imagination s’égare alors tantôt aux abords d’une rivière, tantôt auprès d’une gare désaffectée, tantôt sur le versant d’une colline surplombé d’un château ravagé par les affres du temps…
Avec Under A Name That Hides Her, Wil Bolton continue à suivre son chemin tortueux constitué d’expérimentations, l’utilisation de field recordings n’a jamais eu autant de sens que dans cette œuvre : le liverpuldien à un véritable don pour retranscrire ses sensations à travers sa musique. C’est certainement une œuvre rare, abstruse peut-être, mais qui mérite qu’on s’y attache ; la vérité finira par éclater dans vos oreilles ébahie : Wil Bolton est un véritable génie !” – Electronic Diary
“On n’en finit plus de parler de la mise en sommeil du label Boltfish de Wil Bolton, où il officie en tant que Cheju. Même si certaines releases étaient plus qu’appréciables, on ne va pas se plaindre de cette diversification, tant la musique du Sieur Bolton a pris une nouvelle ampleur depuis qu’il s’est mis au drone. Remarqué par des maisons sérieuses comme Hibernate, Time Released Sound et bientôt Home Normal, Wil ne s’est jamais montré aussi prolifique. Même si certains critiqueront le fait qu’il sort peut-être trop d’albums en si peu de temps, nous n’allons pas gâcher notre plaisir de le retrouver encore.
J’avais déjà été impressionné sur Quarry Bank et Time Lapse, par la faculté troublante que possède le britannique pour capturer des instants beaux et statiques, et pour re-donner vie en musique à des moments qu’il a vécu ou à des paysages qu’il a contemplé. Under A Name That Hides Her, titre d’album puisé dans L’espace Littéraire de Maurice Blanchot, ne déroge pas à ce glorieux schéma qui a fait ses preuves, avec peut-être un aspect encore plus fragmenté, nostalgique et romantique que par le passé. Wil Bolton nous offre donc ici, une ballade qui trouve son chemin hors des sentiers de l’amnésie.
Sa guitare n’a probablement jamais été autant et si bien utilisée, noyée dans des field recordings de toute beauté. La saisissante impression que ses pérégrinations musicales furent suivis par les oiseaux amplifie cette dimension si contemplative et féerique. L’infusion, d’ondes et de textures en clair obscur, se diffuse dans les canaux auditifs comme un collyre réparateur.
Si ses voyages sont multiples dans leurs destinations, c’est définitivement lorsque il évoque la notion de déclin de lieux jadis splendides qui ont aujourd’hui céder au désert et à la désolation qu’il se montre le plus sensible et pertinent. Voilà pourquoi Dissolve etPassing, les deux derniers titres de l’oeuvre, revêtent des habits si particuliers et si saisissants. L’impression d’errer dans les High Lands d’Ecosse ou au milieu des ruines d’une forteresse galloise. Mais même quand il trace une tonalité peut-être moins occidentale (dans la texture du moins) sur Clearing, des lignes croisées sur le céleste et atmosphérique Skyview ou des tranchées plus contrastées et un poil plus sombres surBlackpoint (et sa mystérieuse source éternelle), il parvient à transmettre autant de visions et de reliefs musicaux.
Il y a dans l’approche de la musique de Wil quelque chose de divinement affectueux. Comme lorsque on constate l’humilité essentielle d’un réalisateur filmant ses acteurs dans leurs moments les plus humains, Wil évoque des sites et des lieux pour effectuer un hommage, comme un devoir de mémoire. Souvenons nous de son précédent Quarry Bank, et du reagard aimant et nostalgqiue qu’il portait sur ce que fut l’industrie textile des West Midlands. Cette tendresse et cette nostalgie sont encore là, même si la teneur est peut-être encore plus personelle et un peu plus abstraite.
Avec Under A Name That Hides Her, Wil Bolton nous rappelle qu’il fut également un enfant de Liverpool dans les années 80 et pendant l’épopée des groupes à guitares. Le définitif caractère humain et charnel qu’il transmet à son drone fait de sa musique un bienfait, pour l’âme et le corps. Mais parce qu’il est pressé à 200 exemplaires par Hibernate, tout le monde ne pourra en profiter. La patience n’est donc pas toujours une vertu.” – Chroniques Electroniques
“If you’ve been reading my articles consistently for a while, maybe you’ll notice I tend to say at least one thing a number of times, when it’s about instrumental music. Things like “this music should be listened to with headphones on” or “it’s something you have to listen to for yourself.” I’ll admit I was tempted to say this when I listened to Under A Name That Hides Her by Wil Bolton.
Incidentally, I did say similar things when I reviewed another album on the Hibernate label, The Licence To Interpret Dreams, by Antonymes: “I give my usual recommendations in that I suggest active listening with headphones.” I’ll add that Under A Name That Hides Her is also very ambient, too. It’s music I could imagine playing at a very low level and falling asleep to. (Perhaps you’ll find it humorous that I am writing and listening to it now because it’s 02:18 and I can’t sleep. It’s very calming.)
The press release I received for this album was actually helpful. I assure you that’s saying a lot, because I’ve read many information summaries on other albums that use flowery language to try to describe the music, more so if it quotes other reviewers. But this was indeed informative.
Despite being a difficult subject to put into words, nostalgia nevertheless attracts a great deal of fascination and is something that every individual can relate to..
..we are pleased to present an album that places nostalgia at the heart of its overriding theme.
It goes on to say that Wil was specifically inspired by guitar bands he listened to in his teenage years, like The Cure, The Smiths, The Velvet Underground, and My Bloody Valentine. That brought a smile to my face as the first two were bands I was introduced to in college (although I’d heard a Cure tune earlier than that, I found) and the others I knew at least by name from other friends.
And then there was an explanation of how the album was created: electric guitar samples passed through effects pedals and loopers. You’ll recall that I wrote about Loop 2.4.3 again recently, who created their percussion-driven music in much the same way. And maybe you’ll remember the conversation I had with Greg Cole (of Octopus Empire), in the Squids and Octopus: Yet More Music Blogs article. We were talking about the superior sound of hardware, analog synths. By comparison, taking an acoustic sound, even an electric guitar– it makes a difference. Although the backgrounds on Under A Name That Hides Her are fairly digital, it makes the analog foregrounds stand out.
Finally, there’s a fitting explanation of the choice of the album’s title, and how it relates to the theme of nostalgia:
The album title ‘Under A Name That Hides Her’ is a quote from ‘The Space of Literature’ by Maurice Blanchot and is a reference to the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. It’s a book that Wil read around 15 years ago and this quote in particular has always stayed with him. When working on this album, it somehow seemed to reflect that nostalgic, romantic yearning for something lost that inspired these tracks.
The implication is that although Wil dabbled with digital textures, there was a longing to return to beloved acoustic and analog sounds like that of Robert Smith, Morrissey, and others he listened to in years past.” – We Heart Music
