An Introduction to Craven Faults
The mathematically achieved electronic structures of an elusive genius
The enigmatic Craven Faults is a musician based in West Yorkshire, UK. His artistic moniker refers to a geological formation typical of the British Pennine hills in northern England.
As an entry point for the prolific Craven Faults, I suggest “May Birching” (UK, 2023) - it's an epic single track unfolding glacially over more than one hour of total running time. The entire piece was improvised live online on May Day 2023 as a soundtrack to a camera relaying a view of sheep grazing on a sunny field.
An immersive listening experience, it unfolds as a hypnotic and steady procession of gently chiming bells laid over low-frequency drones and barely discernible riffs, the circular vibrations of each forward-facing sound timed by the ritualistic repetitiveness of soft percussion, the gentle but strict rhythm section always present as a solid foundation for the daring sonic architecture built over its delicate framing.
The entire structure arises as still as it is imposing, not so much evolving in composition but declaring a state of things, asserting a regime, and creating the conditions necessary to work its mesmerizing seduction.
Airy echoes of Steve Reich, Tangerine Dream, Berlin School of electronica, kosmische Krautrock, and other latent strands of '70s synthetic sounds are all present, their influence contributing to the erudite pedigree of a unique sensibility that seems to question the potential of music as a manner of creating space instead of being a way of decorating time.
Debuting in 2017, Craven Fault's first three Eps, (Netherfield, Springhead, and Nunroyd Works respectively) were compiled together with three remixes and re-released in 2019 as the Lowfold Trilogy.
Relying less on generational systems and mathematical sequences, the tracks are overflowing with sophisticated influences, each reference carefully framed and showcased, as if one is listening to an idealized archive of some obscure electronic imprint.
A common factor is the long duration of the tracks, ranging from over 7 to more than 17 minutes, a formal extravagance that adds an element of luxury to the listening experience since time and attention need to be lavishly spent for the enjoyment of these jewel-like constructions.
The heavily processed tonalities allude to seminal electronic scenes, such as the '70s and '80s San Francisco new age synth community, yet the influences are multiple simultaneously, resulting in a rich, polymorphous sound.
Sunny East Coast optimism and rose-tinted healing vibrations are combined (again) with the chilliness of the '70s Berlin school of electronics, the cold synth modulations and loops gliding over organic, hazy, and jazzy electronic improvisational rhythm tracks, supported by off-beat, gentle percussion with a rocky edge, a la Dusseldorf Krautrock.
On other tracks, glacially paced drones move things along, their dense tones at once airy and taut, as if wind instruments were heavily processed and manipulated to mimic the vibrations of strings, their tense, woozy moodiness carrying peaceful echoes of soft metallic percussion looping around minimal riffs.
Thus cloaked in a liturgical, ceremonial, and intense atmosphere, all of the seven tracks and their dance-floor-orientated remixes (including a dubby contribution by the excellent Pye Corner Audio of Ghost Box Records fame) make for a heady listening experience, rewarding in its coherence as a body of work defining contemporary electronic music at its most thoughtful.
“Erratics & Uniformities”, released in 2020 is the debut LP by Craven Faults.
Critically acclaimed as a “hypnotic tour-de-force”, the record opens with a sequenced arpeggio looped over a dull, accelerating beat, their increasingly disparate time signature building to an intensity of ritualistic momentum and trance-inducing bell reverberations.
Along the same path of maximalist intentions contained within strict structures, what follows is a series of tracks pulsing with the lilting keyboards of early analog synth pioneers such as Edgar Froese, Michael Rother, Hans-Joachim Roedelius, Dieter Moebius, and Klaus Schulze, their Teutonic edges roughened with distorted guitars and tribal percussion reminiscent of the rockier, darker Krautrock elements of Neu! and Gong.
“Enclosures” is the follow-up release, a 37-minute, three-track mini-album that came out later in 2020.
Warmer in tone and dreamier of mood, there seems to be a notable turn towards a gentler, more atmospheric sound. Quasi-organic textures are suspended within expansive loops, their tones and correlations shifting continuously, like a murmuration of starlings spontaneously creating fluidly choreographed formations in the sky.
"Standers” is the second full-length LP by Craven Faults, released in 2023 after a live performance compilation featuring gorgeous reinterpretations of four previous tracks.
The record is a consolidation of the artist's signature synthetic, hypnotic, expansive style, featuring music that is elusive to place not only chronologically since it consciously refers to multiple points of inspiration, but also is very broad thematically since the soundscapes are inspired by the entire concept of what it means to be British.
According to the liner notes, the subject of the record is the visual, acoustic, and historical psychogeography of the place where this particular strand of electronica has been nurtured and cultivated for decades as a direct artistic and aesthetic response to this specific post-industrial landscape of post-imperial, late capitalist decay.
Emotionally generous in terms of chord structures, the tracks pulsate with conviction as they unfold slowly, taking root in one's mind, adjusting the listener's perception to the meditative state of deciphering the sonic architecture of what is ultimately a systemic synchronizing of various time signatures and oscillating tones coming in and out of focus.
The mesmerizing effect is like being complicit in an optical illusion performed for our delight, like a museum-goer consciously stepping back from a pointillist painting, the magic image appearing at a distance, before it dissolves in multi-colored confetti again, just with a squint and a step up closer to the canvas dotted with considered daubs.
Strong influences of improvisational Krautrock and Kosmische electronica are present but do not adulterate the primarily synthetic intentions of the tracks, only adding some textures and effects that punctuate the evolution of what is otherwise a purist electronic exercise, having long ago abandoned any pretensions to guitar and band orientated rock as if the artist has decisively cut ties with any tradition other than the sonic nature of someone who is a native to electronic sounds.
Repercussions of a post-industrial identity from a historical point of view, this music, fulfills the futuristic promise originally made by electronic music: – Craven Faults makes the music of the future dreamed about back in the early '60s, when the clunky equipment in the BBC Radiophonic Workshop was first used by computer scientists who, ingeniously collaborating with artists, started programming cumbersome machines to make music for experimental concerts and films.
For Craven Faults, the past means analog as opposed to the blues, not to mention classical. The present is digital and the future is history made at a very long distance, the entire picture viewed only after it evolves at the glacial pace of geological formations altering the landscape and sociopolitical shifts shaping our experience, imperceptible like water is to fish, their influence discernible long after the fact.
Text written by Panagiotis Chatzistefanou, Berlin, February 2024
I was introduced to Craven Faults with the debut album and have greedily consumed and constantly listen to as much of the recorded output as I can. So simple but so complex. A great piece!