Imagine, but not so hard because it's a true and real adventure, you're visiting a small vibrant town with a river that slowly drifts through hills with buildings ancient and modern. It's been there for a very, very long time but this is your first time. All you have to navigate this place is a pair of headphones and this recording.” So says Mark Chadwick, singer, songwriter, lyricist, activist and most commonly known as lead singer of the acclaimed Levellers, of his new solo album, Ouse Dragon. It’s a dreamlike and, at times disorientating, collection of six musical pieces that inhabit a leftfield sonic world of electronic soundscapes and ambient textures. Atmospheric and ghostly, it features Mark’s story-telling vocals drawing the listener along over strummed acoustic guitars, drifting keyboards, keening noises and other-worldly instrumentation that is punctuated by bursts of percussion. Showcasing a very different musical side to Mark from his work with Levellers, the tracks were originally performed in concert last year in Lewes, where the Ouse Dragon tales originate, both ancient and modern. He describes it as a town, “in the forgotten parts of the South of England, its more famous or infamous neighbours cast a shadow, a shadow that fades and pleads for escape when cast upon this odd corner.” The album opens with the eerie title track ‘Ouse Dragon’, stretching to almost nine minutes, evoking a strange and chilling mood of magic that permeates the South Downs. ‘Chrysanthemums & Diadems’ follows, a powerful and affecting song, woozy and dramatic, about a local murder which wrongfoots the listeners with an unexpected interruption from the local police. ‘Dance Of The Crows’ moves into a dreamlike acoustic countryside, while ‘Leap’ is perhaps the most conventional song, it’s sweet melodic nature offset by its lyrics of sadness. ‘Bearing Witness’ meanwhile has an insistent folk thrum before the epic closing track ‘Paxos Room’ takes the listener on a journey into the deepest recesses of their dark imaginations “All of the stories herein are true,” Mark explains. “Murder, abduction, mis-adventures, suicide, possession, spirits and other dimensions. Unknowable but all experienced by the writer. Enjoy the OUSE DRAGON. Headphones and a quiet mind essential”.
