Inside No. 9, Episode #7 (Part 1): Andrew Chalk – Everything, in a moment, and then forever gone again 2006-2022
I have been a fan of Andrew Chalk and his label Faraway Press since discovering his record Goldfall back in 2006. To this day, Goldfall is very high in my greatest records of all time and is one of the most transformative ambient records ever made; it’s truly breathtaking. I have collected Chalk’s work over the years whenever I had money to pick up one of the gloriously presented CDs, tapes, or LPs on either Faraway Press or the La Scie Dorée imprint. It was Volcanic Tongue that turned me onto Chalk’s work. David Keenan and Heather Leigh selected Goldfall as one of their tips, and they were spot on. It’s a record of tumbling piano, with every note dancing on the event horizon, journeying in perpetuity into the oblivion of nothingness. It’s ambient music that grabs you and drags you into another dimension. I’ve since found Chalk’s collaborative releases equally enveloping. Elodie (Andrew Chalk & Timo Van Luijk) feature heavily on this mix, and for good reason. They capture the wonder of improvisation and have crafted a tapestry of frayed threads that come together in a magical way, unlike anything you’ll ever hear.
I could have easily created two mixes for this installment of Inside No. 9, but I want to encourage you to listen and then search and find all you can, as there is such a wealth of wonderful sounds to discover. Sadly I sold the LP of Goldfall to pay the bills one year, but I’m happy to have it on CD again. If you want to find peace and enter a wonderful new world, just go and grab that record. Chalk’s discography is one of those rabbit holes of discovery that will have you trying to catch ‘em all.
“Is there an interior life? The Lord commands that we become as living stones. Because there is no interior monument. I read a story in a newspaper, by a psychologist, on the nature of consciousness. There is no interior life, he maintained. By which he meant, there is no body of consciousness, there is no ever-present lagoon, flesh, carnal, in which our thoughts and our memories and our feelings could mingle as in a body of water, the Red Sea, the Black Sea, no, no ocean for us, no depths to plumb, but moments, instead. Everything, in a moment, and then forever gone again.” David Keenan, Monument Maker, 2021
Moment One
Elodie
Le Nid Dore
2022
Moment Two
Elodie
Vieux Silence
2017
Moment Three
Andrew Chalk
Goldfall Pt 1
2006
Moment Four
Vikki Jackman, Andrew Chalk & Jean-Nöel Rebilly
Nami
2012
Moment Five
Elodie
En Dehors De Toi
2016
Moment Six
Andrew Chalk & Jean-Noël Rebilly
L’étoile Morte
2018
Moment Seven
Andrew Chalk
The Prophet
2008
Moment Eight
Elodie
Dissolution
2016
Moment Nine
Andrew Chalk & Daisuke Suzuki
花すだれ
2018
Inside No. 9 is an attempt to share unique narratives through the mixing of 9 songs. Every episode will showcase a new theme, opening up new tributaries of discovery. Inside No. 9 is presented by Peter Taylor, a former features writer for Foxy Digitalis from back in the late 2000s. Peter is a visual artist and musician and has been creating music as MAbH since 2008.
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