PIERRE RAPH/ JANE WEAVER

· Combining bizarre vocalisations, stripped down minimal piano and subtle Parisian funk themes (echoing the likes of Alain Goraguer’s ‘La Planete Sauvage’ and Karl Heinz Schäfer’s ‘Les Gants Blancs Du Diable’) ‘Le Rose De Fer’ arguably hears Raph at his most accomplished, adhering to a solid consistent theme tune and using a varied range of disciplines to convey it via the film’s precarious schizoid screenplay. For fans of Rollin regulars Acanthus, Philippe d'Aram and Francois Tusques, this release is essential, but as a standalone piece ‘Le Rose De Fer’ is totally unique and, like the film itself, succeeds as the tortoise champion taking first place on many longterm Rollinades lists, while his trademark vamps dodge the sunlight.

· Originally commissioned as incidental cues for a short film by Helsinki based designer Paola Suhonen, ‘Intiaani Kesä’ (‘Indian Summer’), by multi-instrumentalist Jane Weaver, has since grown into a fully formed project lending itself to a number of further cinematic productions and creative applications.

· Appearing alongside Demdike Stare and Brigitte Fontaine in the vampire film ‘Kiss Of The Damned’ by Xan (daughter of John) Cassevetes and recut and performed as an alternative rescore to Eiichi Yamamoto’s ‘Belladonna Of Sadness’ for various live performances, this set of well-crafted themes takes its brazen influences of Nicolai, Dell’Orso, Alessandroni and Daniella Casa back to their purest analog recording origins with startling effect. Recorded in an old vicarage near the Peak District, housing a unique analogue experimental studio, ‘Intiaani Kesä’ hears Weaver deploy a wide range of instruments including tubular bells, bowed guitars, vintage Goblinised Roland string synths, detuned pianos, church bells, Roland guitar synths, harpsichords and ex-Radiophonic Workshop custom equipment as accompaniment to wordless and onomatopoeic chorale vocals recorded on valve microphones with space echo, sonic room reverbs and bespoke experimental tape delays. Made in a disciplined and unforgiving environment without modern technological shortcuts these self-initiated creative research prototypes were not initially intended for commercial release but are thankfully gathered here as songs in their own right independent of context.