- Kemper Norton, who resides on the UK's South Coast, is essentially a folkie, though he makes electronic music that's more carefully produced than most. His heavily conceptual work often focuses on themes of the country, nature and water, and the subject for his first release on young Vancouver label More Than Human is the Cornish water authority South West Water. Lowermoor is an exploration of the 1988 water pollution fiasco in Camelford, Cornwall, where at least 20,000 people were exposed to contaminated water without any warning or guidance from SWW. The result is a spooky, sometimes mournful four-track EP that's more narrative-driven than most records of the same length.
There's a sense of unease at the heart of "SWW Circular," a sonorous drone piece marked by vocal snippets about the scandal, and silvery shards of sound that plop like water droplets. A wall of noise leads to the quieter, shorter tracks "AL 2" and "SO 4," which paste together a similarly glacial melody with bits of piano, synth and what could be string instruments. It all leads up to "SWW Anthem," where a calm voice intones repeatedly to "drink down our clear blue water" and "wash your dreams away" over a backdrop of flickering synths that convey a profound sense of sadness, loss and mistrust. It all sounds a little heavy-handed on paper, but there's a real delicacy to the way Norton puts it all together.
TracklistA1 SWW Circular
A2 AL 2
B1 SO 4
B2 SWW Anthem