Cate Francesca Brooks - Lofoten

 

Cate Francesca Brooks - Lofoten

LP/CD/DL + Enamel badge. 

450 hand numbered vinyl copies

June 27 2025

Pre-order from 16 May 2025

CD and vinyl and badge: Greedbag and Bandcamp

Digital via Cate Brooks' Bandcamp

 

______________________________

 

There are imagined landscapes we all carry within us—dreamed, half-remembered, or just beyond reach. Lofoten, the new album by Cate Francesca Brooks on Clay Pipe Music, is a musical reflection on one such place.

Located above the Arctic Circle, Norway's Lofoten Islands are known for their dramatic peaks, open seascapes, and distinctive red fishing cabins dotting the shoreline. Though Brooks has never visited this remote northern region, it became an unexpected source of inspiration.

The project began when Cate listened to a narrated "sleep story" set in the islands. Intrigued, she researched the region and found herself drawn to its stark beauty. "I fell in love with creating an impression of somewhere I would probably never visit, but felt a real affinity with," she explains.

This ambitious album translates that connection into sound. Through carefully crafted electronics, melodic themes, richly layered textures and big production, Brooks captures the essence of Lofoten—its icy light, vast horizons, and profound quiet.

"The other thing that happened around the same time was the first lockdown here in the UK. I had taken the opportunity of having some extra time to learn a new (to me) method of synthesis; that of the Synclavier, which uses one aluminium wheel and an array of buttons to control every parameter of the sound.

"I took to it with intrigue and before I knew it, I had built up hundreds of original sounds, many of which were perfect for the textures I could hear in my head for Lofoten. So that (along with a Prophet synth and a TR-808) became the sound world."

Lofoten stands as an evocative testament to how music can transport us to distant places, transforming geographical limitations into imagined creative possibilities.

 

 

The Baker Fields - Independent Label Market

The Bakers Fields – Frankley My Dear

Mini CD in handmade box

100 copies available at The Independent Label Market, London

Clay Pipe will be at the Independent Label Market on Saturday 10th May 2025 with lots of rare back stock, new stock, vinyl LPs, enamel badges, prints, Mini CDs, Flexi discs and test pressings!

Please drop me an email if you are coming and would like to reserve an item. 

Clay Pipe Music invites you to take a journey through the Midlands countryside with Frankley My Dear – a new Mini CD housed in a handmade box from Andy Baker’s The Baker Fields. 

The 5-track collection takes its cue from a bicycle ride through Andy’s local area – past the duck pond at Lickey Hills, through Uffmoor Woods (named after the great Mercian King Offa, where a carpet of bluebells appears in spring), and on to Frankley Beeches, which overlooks Birmingham. On Bonfire Night, people gather here to watch a million fireworks across the city, and on quieter days, you might hear the call of a Yellow Hammer. The journey also takes in the old church in Romsley, named after St Kenelm, who was believed to have been murdered on the nearby Clent Hills.

Each track is infused with a fuzzy melancholy, melodic grace, and a gentle psychedelic undercurrent – music shaped by quiet lanes, half-forgotten landmarks, and the gentle passing of time.

Clay Pipe Music · 3. Did He Ever See The Bluebells

Clay Pipe Music · 5. St Kenelms Reverie

Micro Moon - Figure in a Landscape

 

Micro Moon - Figure in a Landscape

Limited Mini CD in bespoke printed cover

Available from Greedbag and Bandcamp

Clay Pipe Music is pleased to introduce London-based Anglo-Spanish duo Micro Moon - pianist/synthesist Isabel Pérez Castro and guitarist/synthesist Stephen Holbrook.

Their Mini CD Figure in a Landscape blends classical piano with rich electronic textures and melodies, taking you to diverse locations—from the sound mirrors of Romney Marsh in Kent to the atmospheric Fábrica da Luz, or 'light factories,' nestled in the Galician mountains of Spain. It’s a beautifully crafted sonic journey inspired by the various regions they have hiked and explored.

After discussing a musical collaboration for years, the couple finally started working together during the early days of the pandemic, experimenting with sound at home and teaching themselves production along the way. This lead to their debut project Public Health—a work inspired by an exhibition at the Wellcome Collection on historical public health initiatives, as well as Iain Sinclair’s book Living with Buildings and Walking with Ghosts. Iain allowed them to use some spoken text from the book for their track, City Rites.

Drawing on subtractive synthesis, drone music, the Radiophonic Workshop, and psychogeography, Figure in a Landscape sees the duo crafting immersive compositions inspired by real-world locations, transporting listeners into vivid aural environments.

A Dolby Atmos mix of Figure in a Landscape is on Apple Music.

Stagdale part 3

 

Stagdale part 3 is available  from the Clay Pipe Greedbag shop and The Hardy Tree Bandcamp.  

Frances Castle presents the third part of her graphic novel Stagdale, accompanied by a new soundtrack EP from her musical alter ego The Hardy Tree.

Stagdale Part 3, drawn and written by Clay Pipe Music founder Frances Castle, continues the story of Kathy and Max—two strangers, a generation apart, who both unexpectedly find themselves living in the isolated village of Stagdale.

When twelve-year-old Kathy discovers a wartime diary hidden behind the skirting board of the old cottage she and her mother are renting, she is instantly captivated. As she delves into its pages, she begins to suspect that the tale of the missing Stag Jewel - told to her by her new friend Joe - isn't quite what it seems. Could the diary hold the key to unravelling a mystery that's been buried for 30 years?

A special edition of the book will include a Flexi Disc featuring the title track “September 1975.” There will also be a limited reissue of the original Flexi Disc editions from Books 1 & 2. Additionally, Book 2 has been reprinted with a matt cover, so all three books in the series now have a more cohesive look.

 

Also available from Greedbag on the 29th November will be coaster sets based on the artwork for Andrew Wasylyk and Tommy Perman's  Ash Grey And The Gull Glides On and Risograph prints of The Hardy Tree's All the Hours.

Clay Pipe will be at the Groovy Record Fayre

 

Clay Pipe will be at Jonny Trunks Groovy Record Fayre on the 2nd November at The Mildmay Club, London,  N16. Lots of hard to find back stock, as well as new releases, badges etc. Free entry from 10am. Hope to see you there.

The Hardy Tree - All the Hours

 

The Hardy Tree 

All the Hours

Release 6th Sept 2024

 Sold Out

The Hardy Tree, the musical project of Frances Castle, founder of the acclaimed Clay Pipe Music label, is pleased to announce the release of All the Hours as part of the Clay Pipe Mini CD series. This 20-minute composition beautifully captures the passage of a day, from dawn to dusk.

All the Hours was initially composed for a live performance at The Betsey Trotwood pub in London last February. The piece serves as the soundtrack to a slow-moving animation inspired by the cover art of The Hardy Tree’s previous album, Common Grounds. It takes listeners on a journey from night to day and back again, unfolding through delicate looped woodwinds and melodic soundscapes. The music was created using an Elektron Syntakt and an Elektron Digitakt, and the limitations and constraints of the instruments helped define the sound of the music.

Frances will be performing “All the Hours” on September 14th, 2024 at The Lexington on Pentonville Road in London, supporting Andrew Wasylyk and Tommy Perman. There will be CDs for sale at the event. Tickets.

Clay Pipe Music · All The H

ours - Radio Edit

Vinyl Delays

If you preordered the second pressing of David Boulters St Ann's or Andrew Wasylyk and Tommy Perman's Ash Grey And The Gull Glides On there has been a delay in the records reaching us. We now hope to start shipping them in the second week of September. 

If you are attending any of Andrew Wasylyk and Tommy Perman's shows in the next month they will have a small amount of records with them. They are all we have right now.

If you ordered a CD, they will ship in time for release.

 

Andrew Wasylyk | Tommy Perman tour dates. On 12/09 they will be joined by Clay Pipe artists Zyggurat in Birmingham and by The Hardy Tree in London on the 14/09 Tickets: thegullglideson.co.uk