Tuesday, 4 January 2022

Cafe Oto - 15th January


 
 
 
 
Estuary English. D Rothon and O Cherer
Gate-fold CD Limited to 200 copies.
SOLD OUT 
Download from BANDCAMP
Available  at the Clay Pipe night at Cafe Oto, London. 15th Jan 2020
Any remaining copies will sold online after the event - please sign up to the mailing for a reminder.

Estuary English – a collaboration between Clay Pipe artists Oliver Cherer (Gilroy Mere) and D Rothon, and released as a limited edition to coincide with a showcase for the label at London’s Cafe Oto –  started out as a conversation about Alan Lomax, Harry Smith and Smithsonian Folkways but it soon mutated into something that felt a lot closer to home in mood and theme – despite the dominance of electric and pedal steel guitars in these spare, evocative instrumental pieces. 

For Ollie they have a particular resonance: “Having grown up near the Severn Estuary, I have always been drawn to the strange, ever-shifting, no-mans land watery landscape of these places. They’re simultaneously tranquil and charged with hazard and treachery so are both beautiful and frightening. These pieces are an attempt to sketch the essence of these muddy, alien wetlands.” 

The two musicians worked remotely on the tracks and, as David explains, “It felt like a very instinctive process. A lot of them started with Ollie sending me something he’d done, and I tried not to overthink my parts – some of them are basically improvised first takes. It was a case of deciding on an approach and then going for it.”