Dave Clarkson - ‘A Pocket Guide to Dream Land: Faded Fairgrounds and Coastal Ghost Towns of the British Isles‘ (CD)

In his latest ‘A Pocket Guide’ venture (following previous albums exploring shorelines, caves and forests), Dave Clarkson recorded sounds from seven faded seaside towns / fairgrounds including Rhyl, New Brighton, Blackpool, Porthcawl, Northumberland, Margate and Hastings. He then applied his unique sense of transforming these field recordings into compositions - with the aid of electronics and instrumentation. This process is described by the artist as ‘Further Afield Recordings’ as original sound source material is transformed further from the root sound for the foundation of sound collages or music compositions. 

A Pocket Guide to Dream Land features melodic and rhythmic tracks while others are more desolate, capturing the unique fading atmosphere for the locations. Music was generated from location recordings of penny arcades, on board rides, fairground madness, demolition noise, electrics and location ambience. The track, Spectral Pier Ballroom, is a spliced and stripped composite of three separate old musical recordings from Dave’s family archive, featuring his late father and his grandparents performing at local ballrooms in the 1970s / 1980s.

“Spellbinding sonic postcards from a rapidly eroding seaside culture" – Mat Smith, Electronic Sound Magazine

Dave Clarkson has been involved in electronic music for over three decades, with more than 30 releases to his name, including five Pocket Guide albums created from field recordings. His other projects include Scissorgun with Alan Hempsall and Spectral Bazaar with Ruth Davies.