CHIMEHOURS - 'Underneath The Earth'
CD in matt-laminate digipak
Barcode: 0641871746712
Track listing:
CD in matt-laminate digipak
Barcode: 0641871746712
"Underneath The Earth" is the debut album from Chimehours; a hauntological music project for the dislocated present day. Taking inspiration from Max Porter's novel "Lanny", the album digs into themes of nature, myth and community, with an edge of folk-horror.
Drones, drums and gritty guitars are juxtaposed with woodwind, strings and ethereal song. Written and produced between Derbyshire, London and Margate, the album takes musical influence from the likes of Liz Fraser, Broadcast, Beth Gibbons, Bibio and Jóhann Jóhannsson, and atmospheric cues from The Wickerman, The Fog, and Enys Men.
Chimehours is a collaboration between Beck Goldsmith and Jon Dix. The pair have previously performed in bands together and composed music for award-winning film and television. They conjured up this foray into cinematic, horror-flecked contemporary-folk to explore their love of the supernatural and the other-than-human.
Chimehours raid the vaults of 70's British cinema and trad folk soundscapes to riff on contemporary anxieties and ecological yearning. The result is a collection of all things earthy, exquisite and grotesque.
FFO: Darkher, The Unthanks, Wardruna, Jóhann Jóhannsson...
CD in matt-laminate digipak.
Drones, drums and gritty guitars are juxtaposed with woodwind, strings and ethereal song. Written and produced between Derbyshire, London and Margate, the album takes musical influence from the likes of Liz Fraser, Broadcast, Beth Gibbons, Bibio and Jóhann Jóhannsson, and atmospheric cues from The Wickerman, The Fog, and Enys Men.
Chimehours is a collaboration between Beck Goldsmith and Jon Dix. The pair have previously performed in bands together and composed music for award-winning film and television. They conjured up this foray into cinematic, horror-flecked contemporary-folk to explore their love of the supernatural and the other-than-human.
Chimehours raid the vaults of 70's British cinema and trad folk soundscapes to riff on contemporary anxieties and ecological yearning. The result is a collection of all things earthy, exquisite and grotesque.
FFO: Darkher, The Unthanks, Wardruna, Jóhann Jóhannsson...
CD in matt-laminate digipak.
Track listing:
1. Branches (2:07)
2. Underneath The Earth (2:53)
3. Toothwort Took Him (2:22)
4. Greentree (2:27)
5. Making A Mountain (2:34)
6. Dead Papa Toothwort (3:15)
7. Bowerbird (3:15)
8. Run (2:18)
9. Look For Me (3:33)
10. Can't Find Your Way (4:06)
11. We Follow (2:32)
12. Say Your Prayers (3:03)
13. Dead Papa Toothwort (Decayed) (1:39)
REVIEWS:
*Best new albums in October 2025 (NPR).
*Best albums 2025 (The Organ)
"[an] album riddled with suitably creepy folk stylings... weaving dreampop guitars around Beck's own haunting vocals, it's hidden beneath the tree fungus at Cold Spring" (Fortean Times)
"Inspired by a candlelit reading of Max Porter's creepy 2019 novel 'Lanny', Beck Goldsmith and John Dix have pulled their debut album Chimehours from the tangled weeds of folk horror. "Can you hear me/I'm speaking/I'm down below the evergreen," breathes Goldsmith on the title track, imprisoned by a tousled web of synths and grumbling strings. The duo are accomplished soundtrack producers, so the likes of 'Toothwort Took Him' and 'Bowerbird' boast suitably widescreen qualities -an entrancing mix of Cocteaus-style dreampop and folktronic drama" (Electronic Sound)
"There are clearly folk tinges with crystalline dreamy vocals that recall Kate Bush in the light as feather delivery but touched with a certain gothic-laced glimmer... The dappling instrumentation and the faint drone in the ether capture this sense of existential mystery and enigma, lending a visceral pagan air... an element of pagan rituals, dance and the often terrible wonders of nature, innocence versus experience and the thrilling nature of music" (Backseat Mafia).
2. Underneath The Earth (2:53)
3. Toothwort Took Him (2:22)
4. Greentree (2:27)
5. Making A Mountain (2:34)
6. Dead Papa Toothwort (3:15)
7. Bowerbird (3:15)
8. Run (2:18)
9. Look For Me (3:33)
10. Can't Find Your Way (4:06)
11. We Follow (2:32)
12. Say Your Prayers (3:03)
13. Dead Papa Toothwort (Decayed) (1:39)
REVIEWS:
*Best new albums in October 2025 (NPR).
*Best albums 2025 (The Organ)
"[an] album riddled with suitably creepy folk stylings... weaving dreampop guitars around Beck's own haunting vocals, it's hidden beneath the tree fungus at Cold Spring" (Fortean Times)
"Inspired by a candlelit reading of Max Porter's creepy 2019 novel 'Lanny', Beck Goldsmith and John Dix have pulled their debut album Chimehours from the tangled weeds of folk horror. "Can you hear me/I'm speaking/I'm down below the evergreen," breathes Goldsmith on the title track, imprisoned by a tousled web of synths and grumbling strings. The duo are accomplished soundtrack producers, so the likes of 'Toothwort Took Him' and 'Bowerbird' boast suitably widescreen qualities -an entrancing mix of Cocteaus-style dreampop and folktronic drama" (Electronic Sound)
"Beautifully burgeoned into life one moment, then finished with the meticulous delicacy of brushstrokes the next, there's a magical eeriness to the songs on Underneath The Earth, the current collaborative passion of Beck Goldsmith and Jon Dix. Memories of reality and an imagined invocation of it blur at those strangest of locations where childhood fairytales appear at the foot of the bed, as though they have been stolen from a book, or stabbed into its blank pages, and return to remind us that we were bloody right all along.
Here, at an hour known only to those who are half-awake, and half-elsewhere to experience that very hour; so much is summoned forth, and so much springs up. Therefore, we cannot help but be spellbound by those shrouds and shrublands of moth-eaten melodies and dirtied, ethereal rage; nor ignore the tribal woodwind commands and lo-fi lullabies, nor the leviathan dirge and noir-laden orchestral scourge that explode in the tantalising wake of what rumbles below every ancient cobblestone and lurks behind every lonely lamppost: Earth's genuine subterranea" (Louder Than War)
"Such a delightful album... it is witchy, otherly, earth-real, ethereal, spiritual, delicately strong, very strong, Underneath the Earth is full of earthly treasure, it glows, it is a walk in the woods, calming, captivating, gloriously alive... Think leaves in trees, falling from trees, things glimpsed through them, yes thing folk music, pagan wealth and the woods alive with the smell of her coming. Think Dark folk, think dream-pop, think experimental slow-moving warmth, think look for her over there, deep in the forest or the undergrowth, look for her, look for her, look for her... This is delicious, this is tantalising, those signs to find to guide you, an elegance, beautiful, like their name" (The Organ).
"The tracks quickly reveal the duo's Cinematic sensibilities, yet the music extends far beyond that genre. Goldsmith’s vocal timbre is fragile and enchanting, adding an Ethereal dimension to the album... the songs shift between soaring passages and more bombastic moments driven by powerful drums. Delicate, subtle arrangements enriched by the magic of classical instrumentation, but also hints of freestyle experimentalism. The album unfolds like an imaginary soundtrack... a work that will certainly resonate with a discerning audience" (Side-Line)
"Notevole debutto... una rivisitazione del senso del tempo e dei valori delle antiche comunità che sfiora ripetutamente una pagana spiritualità e un etereo romanticismo. Subito poetica, tra folk, archi, e richiami a Cocteaus, modello che per la voce di Goldsmith, le affinità con Liz Frazer ci sono... Con la soave bellezza di Underneath The Earth, si è già conquistati. Qualche episodio rientra nella dimensione della soundtrack music con evoluzioni orchestrali... Chimehours sono capaci di spaziare oltre filiformi canzoni, che s’illumina di una delicatezza folk che viene sommersa dalla nebbia [e] che possedere l’incantevole fascino dell’inquietudine" (Blow Up)
"Natur, Nebel, Nachhall... Es riecht nach feuchter Erde, nach altem Holz und einem Hauch von etwas Unheimlichem – denn Chimehours graben mit ihrem Debütalbum „Underneath The Earth“ tief in den verwurzelten Mythen britischer Folk-Landschaften... erwartet Hörer*innen hier kein lauschiges Lagerfeuer-Folk-Album, sondern ein gespenstischer Klangspaziergang durch Nebel, Erinnerung und die seltsame Schönheit des Verfalls... Drones, akustische Texturen und sägende Gitarren stoßen auf flirrende Flöten, sirrende Streicher und den sirenenhaften Gesang Goldsmiths. So klingt Folk, wenn die Natur selbst eine Stimme bekommt – sanft, aber mit dem Gewicht von Jahrhunderten im Ton... Lauert das Gefühl, dass die Wälder längst wissen, was wir vergessen haben. Es ist Musik, die sich nicht nur hören lässt, sondern einem unter die Haut wächst – wie feuchte Erde unter Fingernägeln... Ein Sammlerstück für alle, die gern zwischen Traum und Spuk wander" (Medienkonverter).
"The place where the album is taking me is a grove or woods where things are not quite right. There's a sense of loneliness and melancholia which really touches the Finnish part of my soul... We know UK people can be very bleak, but it's also compatible with our Nordic state of mind... you will know eventually when it's your time to die, maybe even dig up your own grave, and you will be listening to this one, this is a good soundtrack to play at [your] funeral" (Rauta)
"Debutové album Underneath the Earth neukazuje folk jako návrat k idyle, ale jako způsob, jak naslouchat tomu, co je pod povrchem: krajině, paměti, času. Dvojice nechává své skladby růst pomalu a nenápadně; se setkává folklór s hlubším existenciálním naladěním. Písně působí, jako by byly nasloucháním krajině – vzpomínkám na dětství, na komunitu, na nepojmenovatelné vědomí místa. Hudebně se Underneath the Earth pohybuje v jemném napětí mezi písňovou formou a volně dýchanou zvukovou krajinou... Zvuk je zde navrstvený s mimořádnou péčí o detail... zároveň křehce i naléhavě, roste jako liána kolem rámu písňové struktury, aniž by ji zlomila. Underneath the Earth je podzimním zamyšlením, které může podpořit úchvatné scenérie barvami hrajících si lesů a zalézt pod nehty podobně jako množící se ranní přízemní mrazíky" (Frontman)
"The tracks quickly reveal the duo's Cinematic sensibilities, yet the music extends far beyond that genre. Goldsmith’s vocal timbre is fragile and enchanting, adding an Ethereal dimension to the album... the songs shift between soaring passages and more bombastic moments driven by powerful drums. Delicate, subtle arrangements enriched by the magic of classical instrumentation, but also hints of freestyle experimentalism. The album unfolds like an imaginary soundtrack... a work that will certainly resonate with a discerning audience" (Side-Line)
"Notevole debutto... una rivisitazione del senso del tempo e dei valori delle antiche comunità che sfiora ripetutamente una pagana spiritualità e un etereo romanticismo. Subito poetica, tra folk, archi, e richiami a Cocteaus, modello che per la voce di Goldsmith, le affinità con Liz Frazer ci sono... Con la soave bellezza di Underneath The Earth, si è già conquistati. Qualche episodio rientra nella dimensione della soundtrack music con evoluzioni orchestrali... Chimehours sono capaci di spaziare oltre filiformi canzoni, che s’illumina di una delicatezza folk che viene sommersa dalla nebbia [e] che possedere l’incantevole fascino dell’inquietudine" (Blow Up)
"Natur, Nebel, Nachhall... Es riecht nach feuchter Erde, nach altem Holz und einem Hauch von etwas Unheimlichem – denn Chimehours graben mit ihrem Debütalbum „Underneath The Earth“ tief in den verwurzelten Mythen britischer Folk-Landschaften... erwartet Hörer*innen hier kein lauschiges Lagerfeuer-Folk-Album, sondern ein gespenstischer Klangspaziergang durch Nebel, Erinnerung und die seltsame Schönheit des Verfalls... Drones, akustische Texturen und sägende Gitarren stoßen auf flirrende Flöten, sirrende Streicher und den sirenenhaften Gesang Goldsmiths. So klingt Folk, wenn die Natur selbst eine Stimme bekommt – sanft, aber mit dem Gewicht von Jahrhunderten im Ton... Lauert das Gefühl, dass die Wälder längst wissen, was wir vergessen haben. Es ist Musik, die sich nicht nur hören lässt, sondern einem unter die Haut wächst – wie feuchte Erde unter Fingernägeln... Ein Sammlerstück für alle, die gern zwischen Traum und Spuk wander" (Medienkonverter).
"The place where the album is taking me is a grove or woods where things are not quite right. There's a sense of loneliness and melancholia which really touches the Finnish part of my soul... We know UK people can be very bleak, but it's also compatible with our Nordic state of mind... you will know eventually when it's your time to die, maybe even dig up your own grave, and you will be listening to this one, this is a good soundtrack to play at [your] funeral" (Rauta)
"Debutové album Underneath the Earth neukazuje folk jako návrat k idyle, ale jako způsob, jak naslouchat tomu, co je pod povrchem: krajině, paměti, času. Dvojice nechává své skladby růst pomalu a nenápadně; se setkává folklór s hlubším existenciálním naladěním. Písně působí, jako by byly nasloucháním krajině – vzpomínkám na dětství, na komunitu, na nepojmenovatelné vědomí místa. Hudebně se Underneath the Earth pohybuje v jemném napětí mezi písňovou formou a volně dýchanou zvukovou krajinou... Zvuk je zde navrstvený s mimořádnou péčí o detail... zároveň křehce i naléhavě, roste jako liána kolem rámu písňové struktury, aniž by ji zlomila. Underneath the Earth je podzimním zamyšlením, které může podpořit úchvatné scenérie barvami hrajících si lesů a zalézt pod nehty podobně jako množící se ranní přízemní mrazíky" (Frontman)
"Known individually for their indie folk work, the pair join forces here to explore folk horror, ghost stories and the supernatural through a distinctly hauntological lens... Drawing on retro cinema, ethereal minimalism and folk traditions, Underneath the Earth reflects on modern pressures while evoking something timeless, mysterious and otherworldly" (Norman Records).
"Un disco magistralmente ejecutado en el que se funde el espíritu neofolk con la magia de la naturaleza. Ideal para amates de bandas como The Moon and the Nightspirt o Wardruna... La paleta de sonidos utilizada destaca por su nutrido repertorio de recursos, echando mano de instrumentos de cuerda como violines y rotundas percusiones... configurando un amplio repertorio de cortes cargado de innumerables sensaciones... Un trabajo sopesado y de factura oscura en el que predominan los cortes cargados de sabores a naturaleza. El trabajo de producción es sobresaliente, consiguiendo un sonido auténticamente envidiable. Recomendamos adentrarte en el universo de Chimehours" (NoMelody)
"Un disco magistralmente ejecutado en el que se funde el espíritu neofolk con la magia de la naturaleza. Ideal para amates de bandas como The Moon and the Nightspirt o Wardruna... La paleta de sonidos utilizada destaca por su nutrido repertorio de recursos, echando mano de instrumentos de cuerda como violines y rotundas percusiones... configurando un amplio repertorio de cortes cargado de innumerables sensaciones... Un trabajo sopesado y de factura oscura en el que predominan los cortes cargados de sabores a naturaleza. El trabajo de producción es sobresaliente, consiguiendo un sonido auténticamente envidiable. Recomendamos adentrarte en el universo de Chimehours" (NoMelody)
"There are clearly folk tinges with crystalline dreamy vocals that recall Kate Bush in the light as feather delivery but touched with a certain gothic-laced glimmer... The dappling instrumentation and the faint drone in the ether capture this sense of existential mystery and enigma, lending a visceral pagan air... an element of pagan rituals, dance and the often terrible wonders of nature, innocence versus experience and the thrilling nature of music" (Backseat Mafia).
"It has that dark ambient edge of many of the label's rereleases, but it also gathers up "folk-horror, ghost stories, retro cinema and British landscape lore"... It reminds me of Rebecca Denniff and David Owen's On Bonfire Hill project... Fine stuff from these two" (Moonbuliding).
"πραγματικά μια ευχάριστη έκπληξη. Ένα indie pagan (σχεδόν) folk που σε κάνει να αναρωτιέσαι από που ξετρύπωσαν. Το άκουσα πολύ τυχαία και αστραπιαία, και δεν σας κρύβω πως νόμισα που αγγίξαμε φλέβα είτε από Σκανδιναβία είτε από Ισλανδία... Τα φωνητικά της Beck Goldsmith η χροιά της είναι αέρινη, σκοτεινή και απαλή. Σα να σε χαϊδεύει ένα αόρατο χέρι, σα να σε διαπερνά εκείνο το αεράκι ανάμεσα από τις φυλλωσιές.. υτό και το καταλαβαίνεις από κάθε σημείο του... Πέρα από τα folk σημεία που αντιλαμβάνεσαι, έχει και παγανιστικά ακούσματα, όχι απόκοσμα αλλά τόσο αέρινα όσο και οι νεράιδες που χάνονται στα δάση" (Afternoiz)
CHIMEHOURS - 'Underneath The Earth' CD (CSR355CD)
- Record Label: - Cold Spring -
- Genre: Folk / Drone / Ethereal
- Availability: In Stock
-
£11.50
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Tags: CHIMEHOURS, Underneath The Earth, Folk Horror, Hauntology, British Folk, Drone, Ethereal