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Dreamy psych-folk soundscapes from the Isle Of Wight. Rupert Brown readily admits to having his head in the clouds. As Motion Pictures, he and three childhood friends from the Isle Of Wight – Antony Truckell, Tom Gardner and Jack Clutterbuck – have just produced an eponymous debut album which, to begin with at least, is as warm and hazy as a summer sky. But then those clouds seem to turn more threatening, as strange sounds and unidentifiable noises descend upon a previously recognisable landscape of homespun folk.“I would say that album comes 10 per cent from us and 90 per cent from the island,” Brown says. “The atmosphere is definitely inspired by the skies here. When you live in a city you never find yourself looking upwards. There are also so many distractions that you never get a chance to look inside yourself either. The Isle Of Wight is beautiful, but it also forces you to reflect on what you find within yourself – which can be a complete beast, on occasion.” Although, for all those darker shades around the edges, “beastly” isn’t a word you’d naturally use to describe the hushed ambience of tracks like Nighthawks (released as an EP in their previous short-lived incarnation as Live Ambient Workshop) or Flying Eye – or with the four unfailingly polite blokes behind them. In fact, the most deviant desire they seem to have unearthed within themselves was the shared love of Pink Floyd and old folk groups such as Pentangle and the Incredible String Band, which manifests itself in the rustic likes of Time For A Smile. “We’re definitely coming at it from those old-fashioned rootsy elements,” Brown admits. “And we want to make the next record a concept album like Piper At The Gates Of Dawn. Each track will be a separate movement and there will be musical moments in between each one which push the story along.” ![]() Yet it isn’t just the Solent or their love of double-gatefold album sleeves which separates Motion Pictures from apparent contemporaries like James Yorkston, Tuung or the supposed “folktronica” scene. Folk music may be a common inspiration these days but Motion Pictures aren’t sampling old madrigals or recreating them in crystal-clear stereo - preferring instead to unearth old and exotic instruments such as the 32-string Indian Sarod and ancient acoustic auto-harps, and recording the whole album entirely in analogue. “A lot of the instruments are the sort of thing you’d find in a primary school music cupboard in the 70s,” Brown explains. “But they create such an unusual and lovely backdrop. It’s much harder work recording as we do because with digital you can almost just switch to autopilot. With analogue you have to get your performance perfect, but even then the equipment’s so old that the sound you make can still surprise you in so many ways.” In this case, though, it’s normally a pleasant one.
Paul Clarke
Motion Pictures – Motion Pictures, released 06 June 05 on A Town Full Of Fonzies.
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