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Starlings' second album, Ax Locked In Pipeline, is released on Machine Records on 25 November 2022.
October’s single, ‘Lost Comrades' provided a first sounding from this fascinating second album by Starlings aka Kevin Sorsby. We've been listening with interest as Kevin's Starlings project has evolved, and these new tracks show him pushing in new directions. and with a new level of complexity.
Kevin was a key player in the creation of Machine Records in Cardiff in 2001 but until recent years his own releases have been few and far between. After providing three beautifully formed tracks on our first two Machine compilations in 2003/2004, it was twelve years until his first solo release appeared in 2016.
Six years later, 2022 will see Kevin deliver accomplished, challenging new albums as both Cape Canaveral (The Observatory - out now!) and Starlings (Ax Locked In Pipeline).
We caught up with Kevin to discuss his second releases as Starlings.
Machine: This is your second album as Starlings. How did you approach it? Did you do anything differently to the first one?
Kevin: Yes and no. I used the same approach as the first album, but on different kit. I had more control so I could explore ideas further.
Machine: To me it sounds like the sound has really evolved.
Kevin: I think of it as a ramped up iteration of the first album. I could explore more than the first album, combined with some new ideas.
Machine: You introduce some more harmonic ideas, compared to the first album.
Kevin: Yes, the tracks are denser and sonically richer. The first album was, intentionally, very stripped down. I find with that stripped-down nature it’s harder to introduce new ideas, but easier to develop existing themes. Conversely, a more layered, denser sound, to me, allows more room for new ideas.
Machine: What’s the essential track, that points the way to your NEXT Starlings album/release?
Kevin: That’s interesting! There are a number of tracks already written which are in effect a continuation of the album. I’d say 'Lost Comrades' is a nod to the future. I have an idea for future tracks, or an album, which is almost the inverse of what I’ve already done.
Machine: What would the inverse be…?
Kevin: If Ax… is a sonically dense album, for the most part, this would be more of a rarification. I like the idea of exploring density and lack of density, both in sound and in ideas.
Machine: I would like to hear this please! Tell me about the title. Since you told me about your work experiences inspecting military toxic waste dumps that are on the brink of collapse it has made me think again about some of your tracks in terms of exploring the acoustics of abandoned spaces.
Kevin: Fuel storage installations. I was struck by how atrophied it all was, but as you know there’s a certain beauty in a sort of lonely disrepair. They were either incredibly noisy and industrious, or utterly silent apart from the odd animal or occasional clank of something starting up then stopping. I used to enjoy that, ‘What’s that sound, what’s about to happen!’ … then it stops and nothing but space.
I didn’t record anything there (no electrical equipment allowed) but I took some unidentifiable photos of things I liked on an old camera. The 'Lost Comrades' cover is one. I had the Ax Locked In Pipeline title in my head for a while and it seemed to fit the direction. The gentle, or violent, hums that you get those places.
Machine: Will you be arrested for exposing military secrets if I include the above in the interview?
Kevin: No. There’s nothing identifiable!
Machine: Excellent. What are the main ideas you were exploring in the album?
Kevin: A couple of the tracks were intended to provoke some uneasiness: ‘US Arago’ and ‘Lost Comrades’ come to mind. The clicking in ‘Lost Comrades’ moves gradually from order to disorder, almost becoming a Geiger counter with the hum of radiation behind it. When you have a rocket engine firing up and it gets so loud the microphone fails and goes intermittently quiet or just buzzes and distorts. That’s the idea behind ‘Delta V’, and elsewhere. It’s a very industrial album, without being ‘industrial’!
Machine: Reflecting your inspirations. Who/what are some musical reference points for Starlings/this album. “For fans of…”?
Kevin: I think there’s a crossover with some of the industrial scenes, harsh noise too. But I kind of see it as a kind of noisy ambient album.
Machine: We talked before about how Machine Records seems to be in a space now at times that coincides with what now is happening under the name “ambient”. Very different to the early 90s ambient we both encountered.
Kevin: I hated all that Orbital and The Orb kind of stuff. I didn’t really see it as any different to Enigma. I’m not really a fan of synths in that context. I often find things through Bandcamp or Facebook labelled as ‘ambient’ and it’s basically out-of-the-box poor techno. Swirly sounds with a beat. But yes, to me ambient is a huge genre of experimentation now.
