News: Erland Cooper Reveals Music Has Survived On His Buried Tape And Releases First Two ‘Unearthed’ Singles

The first two singles from a surviving tape that was buried underground by Scottish composer Erland Cooper 3 years ago are released in line with the Summer Solstice.

This follows a triumphant world premiere, at The Barbican on 8^th June, in a concert like no other, when the ‘unearthed’ mastertape was played for the first time. Remarkably, the audio survived but altered and ‘co-composed’ by the soil. A large string ensemble then performed Erland’s interpretation and re-scoring of the tape, bringing the mystery to life for the first time. Introduced by John Wilson (BBC4 This Cultural Life), soloist Freya Goldmark (Ligeti Quartet) led the now completed violin concerto, in collaboration with the earth.

The full album, ‘Carve the Runes Then Be Content With Silence’ will be released on 20^th September (in line with the Autumn Equinox on 22^nd Sep) on Mercury KX. The original tape of this new material was ‘planted’ underground three years ago to be nurtured and manipulated by the soil and ‘grow’ into something new. All digital copies were permanently deleted, and the risk was that the music on the tape could have been completely erased to silence.

Titled With Silence (Mvt. 3) – Pt. 2 “wow and flutter of unearthed magnetic tape”, and originally recorded by solo violinist Daniel Pioro and a large chamber string group called Studio Collective, Erland Cooper delivers a gentle, poignant melody carried by the lone violin in delicate interplay between cello and soloist. The texture of the tape in the soil has added an earthly warmth and additional vulnerability to the performance. Each note is allowed to linger and resonate, creating a potent intensity, followed by quieter introspective waves, bringing us back to the beauty of Nature or the landscape of the Islands that have tinted this piece of work.

The single follows With Silence (Mvt. 3) – Pt. 1 “con la memoria”, a memorial ‘piece’ which acts as a pause and a moment of reflection before the release of this first single. This 2-minute silence serves as an introduction to the first note of music from a tape that has possibly the most unusual release plan in history. It was written as one part remembrance and one part celebration of a landmark time in 2021. This is what the entire record could have sounded like and symbolises a giant leap of faith into the unknown of art and music for both the record label and the audience alike.

The ¼ inch magnetic tape was buried in May 2021, along with the sheet music, near Erland’s childhood home in Orkney. In an unprecedented move the composer’s record label, Mercury KX/Decca, agreed to release the album that, instead of going to be mixed, was going under the ground. The Times stated, “In an act that is either admirable or insane, Decca Records has signed Cooper for an album it will have to wait three years to hear.” A date for the public reveal, at the Barbican, was also announced as the tape lay, as yet unheard, in the soil – a first for the record industry. 

Decca Co-President Tom Lewis stated: 

“I think the music industry is crying out louder than ever for true originals, and I think Erland really is a true original. The risk was, paying for a recording that was digitally deleted, that was on tape and being eaten up by whatever is in the soil.”

Erland Cooper himself explains, 

“I write music inspired by the natural world. In particular, the birds in the sky, and the soil and landscape of the Orkney Islands. So the idea for this project is that really I’m just sharing my process with the natural world. It’s a mediation on time, on patience, on value, and art itself. To reveal we now have music, in all forms of sound and colour, means we can now celebrate nature’s wild contribution to composition, as a sort of collaborative act of resilience or survival of the arts and nature alike” 

Apart from the buried sheet music, Erland entrusted three copies of the score to three custodians: musician Paul Weller (“It’d better be fucking good man, after all this…”) novelist Ian Rankin (“I wonder if the guy should have been a crime writer really – planting clues around the place and having fun with it.”) and radio presenter Elizabeth Alker (“The fact that he made a record and then buried it.. that is radical!”). The work is a brand-new composition for solo violin and string ensemble. Over three movements (Movement 1: Carve the Runes / Movement 2: Then Be Content / Movement 3: With Silence), it celebrates George Mackay Brown on his centenary, written 100 years since the Orcadian poet’s birth.

On burying the tape, Erland left a cryptic trail for anyone to search and find it if they so wish, issuing a map, with extra clues released every equinox and solstice. The tape was found in September 2022, and (literally) unearthed by Orkney residents Victoria and Dan Rhodes. They had planned a whole holiday around the unusual quest, described in the Daily Telegraph as “a mystery that had been vexing music fans.” It then dried out on public display behind lock and key, in record shops in Scotland.

At last, we wait no longer, here is the first recording, co-written, co-produced, and co-performed by the earth.

A percentage of the copyright share of With Silence (Mvt. 3) – Pt. 2 “wow and flutter of unearthed magnetic tape” will go to Brian Eno’s music industry climate charity EarthPercent, as a beautiful way of embedding the planet as a stakeholder in musical creativity and raising money for climate/environmental organisations. The Earth’s share of the song – and its income – will be directed to EarthPercent to redistribute to organisations tackling the climate crisis.

‘CARVE THE RUNES THEN BE CONTENT WITH SILENCE’ (CO-WRITTEN WITH SOIL) RELEASED 20 SEPT 2024

A special Limited Edition, recycled LP, signed, numbered 1-1000 and presented with a piece of the original planted tape along with a certificate of authenticity is available for pre-order.

ERLAND COOPER TOUR DATES:

JUNE 2024:

• Fri, 28^th                       Kirkwall, St Magnus Cathedral, Orkney (St Magnus International Festival)

JULY 2024:

• Fri, 19^th                       Schloss Bröllin, Detect Classic Festival

OCTOBER 2024:

• Thurs 24^th                 Hannover, Feinkost Lampe
• Fri, 25^th                     Hamont-Achel, De Posthoorn
• Sat, 26^th                    Berlin, Fotografiska Ballroom
• Sun, 27th                  Büsum, Lighthouse Hotel & Spa
• Tues, 29^th                 The Hague, PAARD
• Wed, 30^th                 Paris, le 104

NOVEMBER 2024:

• Wed 20^th                 York, National Centre for Early Music
• Thu 21^st                   Manchester, Hallé St Peter’s
• Fri 22^nd                    Saffron Walden, Saffron Hall
• Sat 23^rd                    Sheffield, Upper Chapel
• Sun 24^th                   Sunderland, The Fire Station
• Mon 25^th                 Glasgow, St Luke’s
• Tues 26^th                 Norwich, Arts Centre
• Wed 27^th                 Oxford, SJE Arts
• Thu 28^th                  Southampton, Turner Sims
• Fri 29^th                     Bristol, Beacon
• Sat 30^th                    Brighton, Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts