Pre-order of Island of Ghosts EP. You get 3 tracks now (streaming via the free Bandcamp app and also available as a high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more), plus the complete album the moment it’s released.
Purchasable with gift card
releases May 17, 2024
£7GBP or more
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
The compact disc of "Island of Ghosts EP" was available as part of the bonus package for my recent album "Out of Season", but there were some copies left over, as you can only order in multiples of 50. These are the remaining copies, and there will be no further pressings of this EP, so grab one while you can!
Includes digital pre-order of Island of Ghosts EP.
You get 3 tracks now
(streaming via the free Bandcamp app
and also available as a high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more), plus the
complete album the moment it’s released.
I'm happy to present "Island of Ghosts EP" - an ambient reinterpretation of tracks from "Out of Season".
For the last five years I have secretly released over 20 ambient albums under the pseudonym Alan Lidden – "Alan Lidden" being, of course, an anagram of "Daniel Land".
These pieces come from stretching and repurposing the guitar parts from my songs into long drones that feature some of the most elaborate processing techniques I've ever used. Everything you hear on an Alan Lidden track comes from guitars; it's a "no synths" project (and also a no bass, no drums, and no tunes project!)
It's been good "crop rotation" for me, working as “Alan” – a way of unplugging after the grindingly detailed work on my song records. With the Alan Lidden pieces, everything is cut loose and allowed to drift, and a little goes a long way. I've also learned a lot about sound from this work.
Although these pieces are primarily drone-based, I've tried to adhere to Brian Eno's principle that they must be interesting as well as ignorable. There are certainly hidden depths here – different guitar loops drifting in and out of phase and focus, like a slowly-moving audio kaleidoscope. Some of these pieces are very simple, whereas other contain literally hundreds of guitar parts; it all comes out sounding roughly the same – which is, to me, something like waves, like a seascape. And if you just want something quiet to fall asleep to, these pieces work for that too; I'm not at all precious about how much attention people pay.
Most of the “Alan” pieces are made at my holiday retreat on the west Somerset coast, a place of wild and rugged beauty where I've spent long periods of time over the last five years. Given that the look and concept of "Out of Season" was also based upon my return to that area, it seemed natural to create some Alan Lidden versions; I remixed all of the tracks from the album, and these are the best. I'm calling this release an "EP" as I didn't want this to be misunderstood as my "Next Album" – but it's album-length, and is actually longer than "Out of Season".
The cover painting is by the Cornish landscape painter Katy Barrell. I couldn’t not use it for the cover; it reminds me so much of the hours I spend in Somerset, sitting and looking out at the sea, with my headphones on, my laptop on my knees, making these pieces, and connecting to a different, more contemplative thoughts.
credits
releases May 17, 2024
Reprocessed and remixed by Alan Lidden from songs on Daniel Land's "Out of Season" album. Original songs by Daniel Land, except "White Chalk", "Idlewild" and "Put Your Broken Arrows Down" by Daniel Land/Gary Bruce. The cover is a detail from the painting "Winter Horizon, Porthcew", by Katy Barrell
A wonderful collaborator and a very dear friend, I can't recommend Brin's work enough. If you're pushed for time, start with my faves Twilight Sessions Vol 10, Nothing For Miles, or Landscape & Drift. Daniel Land
The German-Brazilian artist's eerie electronic music spans all shades of darkness, from moonlit dreamwave to goth-styled synth-pop. Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 1, 2020