Propaganda Session Six

Kit Downes uses the unique sonorities of church organ to articulate the emotions elicited in him on a walking tour through the East Anglian countryside.

Dreamlife of Debris takes its inspiration from German writer W G Sebald’s 1995 novel The Rings of Saturn. Spurred on by the novel, Downes took on his own ramble across the same landscape, walking from village to village, developing his improvisatory travelogue through improvising on a number of church organs.

The result is a series of vignettes that capture the unusual solitude of the journey, and the otherworldliness of the scenery. Supported by a small ensemble featuring Lucy Railton on cello, Tom Challenger on sax, Phelan Burgoyne on drums and vocalist Ingebjørg Loe Bjørnstad, Downes creates beautifully modulating soundscapes – from quiet meditations to menacing drones.