Orcadian musician Erland Cooper has announced his new album and UK tour dates. The album, ‘Carve the Runes then be Content with Silence’ – Co-written with soil, will be released on 20th September 2024.

The only recording of the work was left underground to be nurtured and manipulated by the soil with all digital copies permanently deleted. The piece will have its world premiere at The Barbican on 8th June 2024, and on Friday 28th of June it will be performed at St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall, as part of the St Magnus Festival.

The release date of this totally unique album, on label Mercury KX is inline with the Autumn Equinox (22nd September) on  20^th September.

Hailed as “Nature’s Songwriter” (Guardian), in May 2021 Erland “planted” the sole recording of the work (on ¼ inch magnetic tape, with digital files permanently deleted), along with the sheet music, near his childhood home in Orkney.

In an unprecedented move Erland’s record label, Mercury KX/Decca, agreed to release the album that, instead of going to be mixed, was going under the ground. The Times stated:

 “In an act that is either admirable or insane, Decca Records has signed Cooper for an album it will have to wait three years to hear.” 

A date for the public reveal, at the Barbican, was also announced as the tape lay, as yet unheard, in the soil – a release plan never before seen in the record industry.

The work is a brand new composition for solo violin and string ensemble. Over three movements (Movement 1: Carve The Runes / Movement 2 : Then Be Content / Movement 3: With Silence), it celebrates George Mackay Brown on his centenary, written 100 years since the Orcadian poet’s birth.

On burying the tape, Erland left a cryptic trail for anyone to search and find it if they so wish, issuing a map, with extra clues released every equinox and solstice. The tape was found in September 2022, and (literally) unearthed by Orkney residents Victoria and Dan Rhodes. They had planned a whole holiday around the unusual quest.

Since then, the tape – carefully set in a wood and glass cabinet along with the sheet music and a violin (placed just above the tape to protect it from any overzealous shovels) – has been drying out whilst on display in independent record shops across the country. Gradually making its way down from Scotland, its final destination (before going back to the studio) was the Barbican, where it was exhibited at the arts centre in all its soil-ridden glory. Also in the cabinet is the carved rune stone which was placed on top of the earth to mark the spot, and can now be seen on the album cover.

The tape has now left the Barbican for its final leg of a very long journey, going back into the studio for its delicate digitisation process, in preparation for Cooper to hear it for the first time since its burial 3 years ago. He will then rescore the work, staying true to every sound on the decomposed tape, and the composition will be finished: COMPOSE, DECOMPOSE, RECOMPOSE.

Apart from the buried sheet music, Erland entrusted three copies of the score to three custodians: musician Paul Weller, novelist Ian Rankin and radio presenter Elizabeth Alker.

Has the project worked? And what does that mean? All will be revealed to the public on 8^th June this year when, at a concert like no other, the unearthed tape itself is (all being well) played at the Barbican and a large ensemble of musicians perform the newly finished work, live, for the very first time.

A special Limited Edition, recycled LP, signed, numbered 1-1000 and presented with a piece of the original planted tape (after its UK premiere), along with a certificate of authenticity is available for pre-order.

ERLAND COOPER TOUR DATES:

JUNE 2024:

• Sat, 8^th                                     London, Barbican (New Album Reveal)
• Tues, 11^th                                Liverpool, Philharmonic
• Wed, 12^th                                Cardiff, Acapela Studio
• Thurs, 13^th                              Stroud, Sub Rooms
• Fri, 14^th                                    Totnes, St Mary’s Church
• Fri, 28^th                                    Kirkwall, St Magnus Cathedral 
• Fri, 19^th                                    Schloss Bröllin, Detect Classic Festival

OCTOBER 2024:

• Thurs 24^th                             Hannover, Feinkost Lampe
• Fri, 25^th                                  Hamont-Achel, De Posthoorn
• Sat, 26^th                                  Berlin, Fotografiska
• Sun, 27th                       Büsum, Lighthouse Hotel + Spa
• Tues, 29^th                              The Hague, PAARD
•  Wed, 30^th                              Paris, Le 104

NOVEMBER 2024:

• Wed 20^th                  York, National Centre for Early Music
• Thu 21^st                    Manchester, Halle St Peter’s
• Fri 22^nd                     Saffron Walden, Saffron Hall
• Sat 23^rd                     Sheffield, Upper Chapel
• Sun 24^th                    Sunderland, The Fire Station
• Mon 25^th                  Glasgow, St Luke’s
• Tues 26^th                  Norwich, Arts Centre
• Wed 27^th                  Oxford, SJE Arts
• Thu 28^th                   Southampton, Turner Sims
• Fri 29^th                      Bristol, Beacon
• Sat 30^th                     Brighton, Attenborough Centre for the  Creative Arts