Shedding the hauntological skin of The Heartwood Institute for his first official solo LP, Jonathan Sharp forges an inviting and inventive new sonic space

2019 is a year where the most prolific artists in the Concrete Islands constellation have broadened their reach and ramped-up their productivity so much that several go-to labels have had to share and measure-out the spoils. Hence, the likes of The Home Current, Polypores and – in various guises – Oliver Cherer are having to spread their wares across the curatorial coves of Polytechnic Youth, Castles In Space, Static Caravan, Modern Aviation, Front & Follow, This Is It Forever, Second Language and Clay Pipe Music primarily to stop their recorded material backing-up in their home studios. Another to add to the list is Jonathan Sharp, whose electro-pastoral hauntological outfit The Heartwood Institute will release an album on Polytechnic Youth in a few months’ time and who now also unveils this first bona fide solo album via Castles In Space.

Moving deliberately away from the occult-inclined themes of The Heartwood Institute, Divided Time is a profoundly personal statement that befits the need to trade under his own name. Inspired by the discovery of old family photos from his 1970s childhood split between London and Cumbria – as reproduced inside the handsome vinyl packaging – each track is a crafted reaction to a specific snapshot in time.

Built using more organically-slanted sounds compared to the off-centre electronics, disembodied vocal samples and squelchy beats that dominated The Heartwood Institute’s engrossing Secret Rites album of early-2018, Divided Time is a beautifully-refined, up-close and imaginative affair. Bringing piano lines, orchestral layers and intricate percussion – that are synthetically-forged but rendered with human warmth – into Sharp’s existing sonic palette makes for a captivating and sincere creative shift.

Although opener “Castlerigg, 1970”, with its plaintive chamber music keyboards underpinned by discomfiting synth murmurs, could pass as The Heartwood Institute in a more reflective mood, thereafter the album follows divergent paths. Thus, over the rest of the first vinyl side the locomotive-rhythmed chimes and twinkles of “Carlisle to Euston Train, 1974” imagines Steve Reich reworking an extract from Yann Tiersen’s Amélie score; “Mews Flat, Kensington, 1974” pirouettes and skulks like an outtake from Ghostwriter’s Morrow; and the triumvirate of “Battersea from the Thames, 1974”, “Watching Boats on the Serpentine, 1974” and “Cherry Woods, 1975” mesmerically pay homage to classic-era Popol Vuh.

Flipping over, “Round Pond, Kensington Gardens, 1975” unfolds with a music box-like tranquillity; “Hyde Park, 1975” and “Silloth, Promenade, 1975” veer into spookier synth-framed corners; “Bassenthwaite Lake, Frozen Over, 1976” prowls into a bleak cinematic dronescape; “Clints Crags, 1976” fizzes and flickers like Tangerine Dream low on electricity; and the exquisite finale of “First Polaroid, 1977” soothes as if it were a collage culled from Brian Eno’s finest Ambient album series moments.

With Divided Time being the first of a planned set of releases with a similar conceptual approach, which Jonathan Sharp promises will “move on from 1977, taking in time in New York then again back to London”, this is a venture with a very promising long-haul reach. Whilst we wait for the rest to appear however, this is a deeply-impressive collection that stands up strongly on its own merits.

castlesinspace.bandcamp.com

Adrian
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