TIP TOP RECORDINGS

‘Pool’ is a new collaborative album by multi-instrumentalist and Modern Nature member Jim Wallis and painter and guitarist Nick Goss. Inspired by Goss’s artistic residency on a tanker in the Adriatic sea; the seven ethereal and atmospheric pieces fuse ambient and experimental instrumental music with captured field recordings from the ship.

In early 2020, Goss spent several weeks as part of an artist residency onboard the 183-meter tanker the Cielo Di Gaeta on the Adriatic Sea. As well as making drawings and collages from which he created paintings for his upcoming show at Contemporary Fine Arts in Berlin this September, he also recorded ambient sounds of life onboard the ship. “In particular, the tapestry of sounds from the bridge at night, the differing dialects spoken by the Italian, Indian and English crew, the bleeps and whistles of the navigation machinery and the ever-present sound of the ocean,” says Goss. When he returned to London, he approached Wallis, an old friend with whom he played in the band My Sad Captains for several years, with the idea of working together to make some musical soundscapes that reflected this journey.

Starting with those field recordings and sections from guitar loops Goss had recorded while in lockdown in rural Scotland, Wallis wrote a selection of pieces for piano and strings, with a sprinkling of synthesizer, before the pair got together in the studio in London to record Goss’ unusual, amorphous guitar parts, refine what they had created, and complete the album. The result is an immersive, meticulously crafted album that brings to mind the ambient textures of Eno’s ‘On Land’ and the ethereal melodies of Stars Of The Lid.

“I’ve worked with lots of musicians over the years, but never met anyone who plays the guitar quite like Nick,” says Wallis. “He plays like he paints, with a unique sense of texture and atmosphere. Those deep, undulating sounds he plays on Seventh Man or the soaring waves of sound on Beach Night are so reminiscent of the sea, it felt like a perfect fit for the field recordings he made on the tanker. It was a real pleasure writing parts to provide a melodic backdrop for such unusual sounds.” Goss also captured a series of video clips during his time onboard, which provide striking video accompaniment to the music.

For Goss, the album was an attempt to recreate the atmosphere of his time on board the tanker: “There was something overwhelming and wonderful about giving yourself up to not knowing, sitting on the bridge trying to keep out of the way, surrounded by the inky black space of the sky and water, punctuated by a flickering beacon in the distance - your aural senses really took over”.

For Wallis, the album represents a follow-up to his 2020 debut ‘Europa’, which accompanied Rwandan director Kivu Ruhoroza’s documentary of the same name. The album won fans at BBC 6 Music and Radio 3 and was followed by a remix album featuring Max Cooper, Hinako Omori, Erland Cooper, Vanishing Twin and William Doyle, amongst others. He also works as a producer at the in-house studio of independent label Bella Union, where he has worked with the likes of Bryde, Psychic Markers, and Our Man In The Field. He is a member of the band Modern Nature and spent much of the year preceding the pandemic touring with them or the New York based dreampop band Still Corners. Lockdown then provided an unexpected opportunity for the two friends to reconnect: “While Nick and I originally met through playing in a relatively traditional band setup, both of us (along with my brother Ed) became increasingly interested in the world of ambient and instrumental music and over the years we went to see people like William Basinksi, Bing & Ruth, Bitchin Bajas, Julianna Barwick and A Winged Victory For The Sullen perform in London. We stopped playing together in 2014, but in the intervening years had often discussed the idea of making something like this together to accompany one of Nick’s shows, without ever quite finding the right moment. Nick’s residency and the opportunity to use these field recordings as a starting point, coupled with lockdown meaning we both unexpectedly had time on our hands, gave us the impetus we needed.”

The album is released as a limited-edition marine blue gatefold vinyl, featuring a selection of Goss’ work inspired by the residency.