Jumble Hole Clough: They've Built an Ark in Arkham

photo: Andrew Daley

English avant-garde musician Colin Robinson rummaged through the instrumentals he had amassed since 2019 to see if there was anything worthwhile that could be used on a new album by by his Jumble Hole Clough project. He should not have worried. The tracks for They've Built an Ark in Arkham were augmented by vocals - some of them by Jim Ramsden, Rick Holstead and Nadia Robinson. With his signature knack for off-kilter rhytms, short bursts of any instrument he might have lying around and field recordings made in Lyon, Bilbao and Manchester, he created a miasma of eccentric, tumbling tidbits that can be quite baffling at times.

As is his wont, he can write about anything that comes to mind: being frustrated about evasive inanimate objects (Brushes, combs and cutlery), a big saltwater fish turning up in an expected location (Great White Shark in Peasholme Park), an underground line that was never finished (We rode on the Picc-Vic Line), the day John F. Kennedy was shot in Dallas and also a sad day for fans of C.S. Lewis and Aldous Huxley who both died on that day (November 22nd 1963), and enjoying a sporting relaxing holiday (Surfing the Sargasso Sea).

Robinson has built his own niche, not caring much if anyone will like visiting there, but those who dare to enter are treated to a mix of progressive, free-flowing music that is actually well-constructed and a lot of fun too.

They've Built an Ark in Arkham is a self-released album. Buy it (pay-what-you-want) from his website.

Tracks:

1. Tooting Carmen
2. Mechanically Marginate
3. The Magic Slippers of Linton-on-Ouse
4. Harold Be Thy Name
5. Brushes, combs and cutlery
6. Thruppence all the way
7. The Enigmatic Chair of Kraków
8. Great White Shark in Peasholme Park
9. Brian Cox is having trouble with his banjolele
10. Goonhilly Downs
11. We rode on the Picc-Vic Line
12. Walking upright like a man
13. As keen as mustard
14. November 22nd 1963
15. Surfing the Sargasso Sea
16. I was the sniggering cameraman

» Jumble Hole Clough on Facebook

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