A Year In The Country: Lost Transmissions

A Year In The Country: Lost TransmissionsLost Transmissions weaves amongst brambled pathways to take in the haunted soundscapes of electronica, the rise of the occult in the 1970s, cinema and televisions dystopian dreamscapes and hauntological work which creates and gives a glimpse into parallel worlds. It is a recording of a personal journey that delves amongst both the esoteric fringes and mainstream of culture, and which at times holds a shadowed scrying mirror up to the modern world and

Lost Transmissions weaves amongst brambled pathways to take in the haunted soundscapes of electronica, the rise of the occult in the 1970s, cinema and televisionÕs dystopian dreamscapes and hauntological work which creates and gives a glimpse into parallel worlds. It is a recording of a personal journey that delves amongst both the esoteric fringes and mainstream of culture, and which at times holds a shadowed scrying mirror up to the modern world and some of its ills, while also reflecting visions of a hopeful future in its depths.

Alongside other experimenters in electronic sound the book explores Boards of CanadaÕs invoking of Òthe past inside the presentÓ; Paul WellerÕs visiting of Ghost Box RecordsÕ elsewhere universe; work by Cosey Fanni Tutti, Hannah Peel and the reformed Radiophonic Workshop, and their collaborations across time with electronic music pioneer Delia Derbyshire; Dominik Scherrer and Natasha KhanÕs summoning of Òpastoral spookÓ via a hidden language of angels; and takes a trip in the company of fairground and rural ghosts conjured up on records released by Castles in Space.

Alongside these it examines the paranormal and Òworlds beyondÓ via the semi-lost supernatural-orientated television series Leap in the Dark which included work by Alan Garner and David Rudkin, Sharron KrausÕ contemporary investigations into the preternatural and the conjuring of modern-day phantasms in Luciana HaillÕs artwork.

The book also includes an intertwined consideration of the Òdeluxe dystopiasÓ that can be found in films such as Rollerball and Andrew NiccolÕs Gattaca and prescient views of the futureÕs past & media collusion in film and television including Nigel KnealeÕs work and the overlooked corners of science fiction.