Unearthing Weird Albion
It's time for a post with more than a hint of self-indulgence. A book has just come out called Leaves from the Albion Library: A Gathering of Folklore Tapes Essays 2013-2023 by Jez Winship. Yes, you guessed it, the author is yours truly. But before I am accused of shameless self-promotion, let me say in my defence that this book is in many ways the record of my own decade of sleuthing in the stacks. These essays were written for a ragtag troupe of artists, musicians and writers operating under the aegis of the Folklore Tapes collective. Folklore Tapes started down in these parts and was initially known as Devon Folklore Tapes. They recorded music which drew on local and national folkloric stories and superstitions, sometimes including field recordings from resonant landscapes and ancient sites - of which there are plenty aroundabout, of course. These were presented in found objects such as hollowed out books, refashioned into beautifully designed art objects. As the project progres