I wrote Before the Storm over a couple of weeks at the start of April, just after the UK went into lockdown in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. I was in the privileged position of being able to work from home, and as we we settled into this bizarre ‘new normal’, watching the crisis develop around us, I felt this overwhelming and strange mix of emotions. These three tracks spilled out of me almost spontaneously; snapshots of the early lockdown and how I felt at that time.
There was this numbing sense of dread, with cases rising rapidly and (seemingly) uncontrollably. We were very much still in this calm before the storm but all knew that a significant, almost incomprehensible loss of life was about to follow. Meanwhile for those of us lucky to still be working from home, we were trying to figure out how to adjust to this new life in lockdown. Establishing these new routines on the fly, somewhat in sync with each other but constantly and chaotically changing.
And throughout all of this I felt a paralysing sense of grief and rage. At the time of writing, the official UK death toll is in excess of 46,000. Collectively I believe we are still coming to terms with this trauma, and as such it’s easy to forget that a large proportion of these deaths were avoidable. The initial inaction on the part of the UK government, their subsequent shambolic mismanagement of the situation, and the years of austerity that laid the rotten foundation for their response are all travesties of the highest order. We mustn’t lose sight of their shameful handling of this, and those responsible must be held accountable in the months and years to come.
Before The Storm is an exploration of these emotions and our collective trauma; an experimental elegy by way of modern composition, drone, noise and a touch of post-hardcore.
- Adventsong
credits
released September 4, 2020
Written, performed and recorded by Jack D'Arcy
Mastered by Kris Ilic
supported by 13 fans who also own “Before The Storm”
i LOVE this album, melancholic, dark, a little dreadful...this is the album i put on early in the morning when i want to listen to something but most music feels too "loud," this is the album i put on at night to wind down, this is the album i put on when i'm doing work and want something ambient to accompany it, this is the album i put on when i'm going for a walk as the sun is going down, it just has a really special ambience to it. cloud
This ambient pop album from Chute Records label head Jan the Man captures melancholy, contemplative moods simply, and without words. Bandcamp New & Notable Jun 15, 2021