CLOT Magazine presents BARKUM DEER

CLOT Magazine

Barkum Deer are Louis Giannamore and Jenny Ames, two talented musicians who met in a London house share and bonded over their love of early Renaissance music, black metal, and Björk. Amid the bleak reality of a winter lockdown, the pair found a space for creative collaboration unencumbered by deadlines or expectations, fuelled by the catharsis of experimentation. Jenny graduated from the RCA, and as a classically trained viola player, has performed with Björk, Floating Points and Mica Levi, while Louis is a drummer, producer, and graduate of Berklee College of Music who’s collaborated with the likes of Gang of Youths, Master Peace, and First Light Records labelmate Kinn. Earlier this year, they released their debut self-titled album Barkum Deer (First Light Records, 2022), a dense half-hour trip into bass-rich drones, anxious strings and skittering electronic flourishes. Viola, drums, Jenny’s voice, and found samples (creaking doors and dusty footsteps) all come together to form a beautifully cinematic and abstract exploration. The track’s sound is designed with a special awareness that makes it something really special, endowing the compositions with a haunting enduring physicality. In some tracks, travelling pulsating drums make you feel like galloping on a horse’s back at 100 miles per hour; in others, it’s the viola pulsating or stretching, with its string's sound plunging into one body, pungently expanding and contracting within. About the mix they have prepared for us, the whole of it is enveloped in found sounds and field recordings recorded by Louis: I've been on tour for most of 2022 with a band called Gang Of Youths, so I have had the opportunity to capture sounds from all over the world. There is a thunderstorm that you'll hear in there I luckily timed and captured perfectly, Louis shares. The mix opens with a live version of their song 'Folding Fog' and an alternative version of -also theirs- 'Labyrinth', which is found exclusively on the CD format of the album. Following, there are two solo pieces by Jenny and Louis, both of which can be found online. To round it off, they say, we have a roughly mixed, unreleased song for Barkum Deer. It's not even finished, but I love the way it sounds. Referring to my comment earlier, I've been trying to teach my ears to listen to the world around us as if it were music. I feel this mix mirrors that. I'm chuffed about it. Tracklist: 00:00 - ‘Folding Fog’ - Piano/acoustic rendition (intro) 03:40 - ‘Folding Fog’ - Live 12:38 -‘ Labyrinth’ - CD exclusive/alternative version 19:09 - ‘Chrome’ - solo piece by Louis Giannamore 23:12 - ‘Organ’ - solo piece by Jenny Ames 27:25 - ‘Ground’ - unreleased song by Barkum Deer