MUSIC
On Footsteps
27.08.2021
James Rushworth returns with new music, matching synthetic lo-fi sounds with a vivid leftfield production style. Bringing together his passion for East Asian traditional instruments and the intensity of electronic production, the dirty saturation of the tracks becomes an unnaturally dense texture, punctured only by the warped, distant calls of flutes and plucked strings.
‘On Footsteps’ layers together a dusty ambient beat with warbling, breathy instruments. He says “I really wanted to show how electronic tracks can become much more interesting through instrumental performance. It isn’t about creating a nice melody, but with the ambient sounds it’s almost like the headphones take you somewhere else.”
The release marks a new direction for James, embracing its lo-fi qualities.
“The track owes a clear debt to ambient producers, but I struggled to work out what energy I wanted my music to have. I’ve always been trying to characterise the subtle intensity of urban spaces and I kept coming back to the likes of Flume and Kaytranada. Letting this dirty wall of noise get driven out by bouncing rhythms seemed to embody the musical mix of my surroundings, letting the rhythms of hip hop and house music leave a fingerprint on the sound.”
‘UIA’ brings the idea of working with East Asian instruments to the fore again. Relying on a variety of non-Western sounds, the track makes for a balancing act. The overlapping layers of the track subside, moved apart by the distorted rhythms of a tape-based production. “I seemed to spend days just layering instruments and tapes on top of each other. From the ‘clappers’ through to the flutes it just became this tumbling wash of sound. I then started to draw the sound back, pulling melodies out from the background.” “As I began shaping the flow of the track, I realised how important it was to let go of the reins. As the end of the track calls out all the subtle melodies from earlier, it almost becomes this wave that swells around you.”
‘On Footsteps’ features the title track ‘On Footsteps’ and B-side ‘UIA’. The two-track EP was released as an independent artist on 27th August 2021.
Intake
11.09.2020
James Rushworth brings a distinctive style of Electronica to life, merging the traditional music of China with the intensity of contemporary leftfield electronica.
As part of the ongoing Music from the North Shore project, the music uses samples of Silk and Bamboo (Jiangnan Sizhu) music as well as live instrument and digital performance to create an intricate mixture of sounds that reflects Asian culture within a digitised landscape. Sitting at the stylistic meeting point between Four Tet, Aphex Twin and Philip Glass; the music intends to portray a mood of reflection, building an atmospheric tension that flows between pieces and is interjected only by moments of instrumental and electronic improvisation.
James Rushworth forms intuitive sounds using recordings of industry, construction and urban population centres within China, combining the emetic quality of environmental sounds with that of the synthetic characteristics of digital music re-performance. His music and live performance emulate both an aesthetic informed by the processes of industrialisation and urbanisation and future-focused visions of China’s role within a global culture.
Intake features the title track Intake and B-Side Gold Sands.
Intake was released through Eight Point records (Revenu) on 11th September 2020, receiving airplay on Balamii Radio, BBC Radio Humberside and featuring in Enhanced Music's Electronic Chill playlist on Spotify.