'Project R.O.Y.' is a Lovecraftian travelogue detailing a family man's decent into madness, while in search of a mythical being.
Imagine a dystopian parallel universe populated solely with millions of Arab Strap clones, capable of producing only broken machine music.
Storyteller is a collaboration between writer & occasional filmmaker
Bruce McClure and sound artist
Bjørn Hatleskog.
This second instalment in the series is presented in cassette form in homage to their namesake the nineteen eighties children's magazine and tape series published by
Marshall Cavendish.
The illustrations were provided by Chris Wright of Turbo Island.
Bjørn Hatleskog's work explores the nature of feedback loops, noise and interference and their application via mechanical automation. These ideas are investigated through the construction of modular robotic devices which are combined to form generative sound installations.
Since 2002 he has been running the Adaadat record label, as well as releasing music on other labels including
Benbecula,
Seed,
Rolax and
Invitro, under the monikers Romvelope and Kema Keur.
Along with Bruce McClure, he was also a member of live art/noise performance group Le Couteau Jaune.
Storyteller will be performing at 2019's Supernormal festival in Oxfordshire taking place on the 2nd-4th of August.
"What makes Hatleskog and McClure's version of Storyteller so affecting is the feeling that a small part of your childhood has been meddled with; the format and artwork point strongly to parody, but once the narrative tone is revealed, it's clear that any similarities end there. For the generation who were young enough in the early 80s to experience these tapes first-hand, it's as though the duo have crept out of a wardrobe deep within your memory and recorded over them with grubby hands, depositing these new more disturbing stories in place of those fondly remembered classics."
Spenser Tomson (The Wire)
"This was a real treat. I wonder why more stories don't have some sort of sound collage for atmosphere? Storyteller may just have stumbled across something really special."
Mr Olivetti (Freq)
"So, within these inserted events, we get into the body of the beast. The story! An affair between a plant and a man. An odd topic but interesting enough. All sorts of amusing happenings. I guess this is a preview, a brief exploration into a world most similar and most unknown."
Caffeinate (Yeah I know it Sucks)
"Bruce McClure & Bjorn Hatleskog host a communion with a vegetation deity. Casual observations from the foyer of the Mountain King. An ode to etheric transmissions, electro-acoustic night terrors, suggestive drones & dystopian sea shanties."
Mark Westall (Fad Magazine)