“There is presence in that landscape, but you can’t identify it.”
March 3, 2019 1:58 PM Subscribe
BBC Radio 3 takes “a journey into the strange and unsettling world of the English Eerie", "discovers a growing movement of artists, writers and musicians exploring impressions of the ‘Eerie’ in the landscape” and explores “how the tradition of the Eerie is being revived in response to contemporary fears and crises.
(the English Eerie previously on Mefi, prompted by Robert Macfarlane’s treasure trove of an article.)
Some of the artists featured in the programme:
PJ Harvey, musician
Richard Skelton, musician and publisher
Helen Macdonald, writer and friend of hawk
Robert Macfarlane, writer
Tacita Dean, artist and nominee for the Turner Prize
Ben Wheatley, film-maker
Timothy Morton, ecologist
Adam Scovell, writer and film-maker, who ‘argues there’s a positive force in engaging with the Eerie in an era when the British landscape is at the centre of environmental and political conflicts’
Rob St John, writer and artist - the programme plays his underwater sound-recording of pondweed photosynthesising.
Throughout the programme hangs the shadow of the late great Mark Fisher, author of ‘The Weird and the Eerie’.
And of course, the English countryside. Long Meg and her Daughters, the first place the programme visits.
Some of the artists featured in the programme:
PJ Harvey, musician
Richard Skelton, musician and publisher
Helen Macdonald, writer and friend of hawk
Robert Macfarlane, writer
Tacita Dean, artist and nominee for the Turner Prize
Ben Wheatley, film-maker
Timothy Morton, ecologist
Adam Scovell, writer and film-maker, who ‘argues there’s a positive force in engaging with the Eerie in an era when the British landscape is at the centre of environmental and political conflicts’
Rob St John, writer and artist - the programme plays his underwater sound-recording of pondweed photosynthesising.
Throughout the programme hangs the shadow of the late great Mark Fisher, author of ‘The Weird and the Eerie’.
And of course, the English countryside. Long Meg and her Daughters, the first place the programme visits.
Definitely a strong folk horror vibe here, with a cross-current of Ballardian dread in industrial and post-industrial settings.
Well done.
posted by doctornemo at 10:25 PM on March 3, 2019 [1 favorite]
Well done.
posted by doctornemo at 10:25 PM on March 3, 2019 [1 favorite]
John Coulthart's always been my go-to person for explorations into the English eerie, among many other things.
posted by octobersurprise at 6:19 AM on March 4, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by octobersurprise at 6:19 AM on March 4, 2019 [2 favorites]
May I recommend the BBC radio drama Pilgrim, where Albion meets the present day from countryside to city. Well written and acted, suitably spooky in parts.
The 7 series are available (at least via Audible) in two audiobook collections.
From the BBC: "Writer and creator, Sebastian Baczkiewicz explains his thinking behind the series; ‘As a writer I’m always drawn to the sense that numerous realities can exist all the time, and the layers of our culture and our being are all around us in those places. What was a housing estate or a Tesco’s might once have had a story, or have a depth to it, particularly in a country as old and as rich in story and those kind of traditions as this one.’"
posted by nofunnyname at 8:33 AM on March 4, 2019 [1 favorite]
The 7 series are available (at least via Audible) in two audiobook collections.
From the BBC: "Writer and creator, Sebastian Baczkiewicz explains his thinking behind the series; ‘As a writer I’m always drawn to the sense that numerous realities can exist all the time, and the layers of our culture and our being are all around us in those places. What was a housing estate or a Tesco’s might once have had a story, or have a depth to it, particularly in a country as old and as rich in story and those kind of traditions as this one.’"
posted by nofunnyname at 8:33 AM on March 4, 2019 [1 favorite]
I like the connections made to climate change and industrialization.
Could have used more Blackwood and Machen, though.
posted by doctornemo at 11:39 AM on March 4, 2019 [1 favorite]
Could have used more Blackwood and Machen, though.
posted by doctornemo at 11:39 AM on March 4, 2019 [1 favorite]
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