“Twilight Sequence” is the modular synth project of Matthew J Saunders and “Trees in General: And the Larch” is the second release on Castles in Space. Originally the soundtrack to a 20 minute video aired in a charity telethon organised by Merseyside’s “Emotion Wave”, the psychedelic tree-based visuals and writhing, groaning slo-mo vortex of analogue modular synth music caught CiS’s eyes and ears and lead to this translucent/transcendent 12” release.
The piece represents the passage of a single winter’s day in Dorset starting in the dark of a very early rainy morning, through a brightening afternoon and into a spectacularly burning sunset. All the visual footage was filmed around the Dorset village where Matthew lives and the music was directly inspired by the magnificent trees and scenery that surrounds his studio—the Twilight Research Centre—and the wildly changing light and weather conditions that a rural microclimate can bring.
“Trees in General…” is a companion piece to a 7” EP entitled “Looking at Lifeforms” which will be released simultaneously for the Castles in Space Subscription Library— the two forming a scattered but connected album.
Zeke Clough designed the beautiful tree artwork and the breathtaking etching which adorns the back of the 12” clear vinyl.
The title for this stunning 12” comes from the series of natural history books by John Hammerton entitled “Outline of Nature in the British Isles”.
“Outline of Nature” is also the title of Twilight Sequence’s forthcoming album which will be released on Castles in Space later in the year.
Matthew J Saunders has been releasing records since the late ’90s on labels such as Earworm, Static Caravan, SpaceAge, Ochre and a series of others before landing a deal with 4AD with his band Magnétophone. He has collaborated with Pixie’s/Breeders’ Kim Deal and Kelley Deal, King Creosote, James Yorkston and most closely with Pete Kember who joined the band and managed them during the two year promotional period of their second album.
Nowadays, Saunders records analogue modular synth music as Twilight Sequence, generative systems music as The Matthew Machine, rave sci-fi and radiophonica as Assembled Minds (whose album “Creaking Haze and other Rave Ghosts” was chosen as an album of the year by Simon Reynolds), and plays in electronic improv band Rapid Eye Electronics Ltd (R.E.E.L.) with fellow noiseniks Farmer Glitch (Hacker Farm) and Saxon Roach (IX Tab)—second album coming soon on Portugal’s Zona Watusa records.
He’s active on the live scene in Somerset/Dorset (currently playing out taut and fuzzy ambient under the name “Avail Yourself”), is on the board of sonic arts organisation Eastville Project Space bringing sound artists to the West of England, and is also involved in the Wyrd Wild West festival, an experimental music festival based in Yeovil.