ALTER is proud to present ‘Tendrils’, the first LP release from London based artist & musician Malvern Brume. After gathering some hushed praise from the UK underground for a couple of excellent cassette releases and strong local live performances, ‘Tendrils’ is the first definitive document of the Malvern Brume sound world. His instrumentation and sound sources would be considered familiar staples in the world of “experimental” music, but Salter does an admirable job of making them his own. Comprised of 8 pieces, this is electronic music at its core but a kind that sounds as if it’s being played through fog. Like spores growing on a damp surface. Densely composed and thick with an almost asphyxiating atmosphere – even during the record’s more minimal moments – track titles like ‘Caught In The Exhaust Trails’ and ‘Sunk Into Plastics’ only heighten the tone further. Salter was originally born in the countryside and since relocated to London, a place he finds “over stimulating in every sense”. Much of ‘Tendrils’ could be taken as a response to the city and a means of equating the two. Camberwell is listed as the location for composition, but field recordings are attributed to rural landmarks. The Rollright Stones on the Oxfordshire / Warwickshire border and Seven Sisters Cliffs by the English Channel are two in case, but despite their picturesque origins Salter renders them into abstract clatter. As if dubbed from the private tape archive of an old eccentric. In addition, synthesised electronic tones hum and buzz, occasionally giving away to strange, slurring sequences that sound like lost transmissions from the radiophonic workshop. Despite the nod to this electronic music institution, it’s lacking the sincere level of esteem that can turn one into a heritage act. There is a strangeness and distant other worldliness to the music that feels unselfconscious and keeps Malvern Brume from being easy to define by contemporary terms. Salter says the album is defined by movement and the environments that have inspired him over the years. In his own words, “each of these tracks is inspired by a journey or moving through a space, an audible A to B”. With that in mind, ‘Tendrils’ is perfect music for solitary inner-city marshland walks and urban bike rides to forgotten local suburbs.

An absolute masterpiece by OTO favourite Malverne Brume All tracks recorded live with some processing after. Made using synthesiser, sampler, found objects, bells, metal objects, voice and cassette recorder --- Mastering by Mark Klon Images by Malvern Brume Layout by Ben Waggett and Malvern Brume Music & Mixing by Malvern Brume in 2021 --- Infant Tree, 2021

When the covid-19 pandemic started, in a mixture of distress and concern, it was hard to block out the imagination and its ability to dream up how far things could go. In what feels like a lost tape from a field trip in nuclear fallen-out land, Malvern Brume paints a world seemingly abated. Occasional muffled dictaphone note-taking punctuates caustic interruptions, cryptic utterances, the hollow chime of steel panelling, the movement of 'something' under the gravelly surface. When the journey comes to an end, a crescendo of static noise comes to fore and we hear the splash of water, it becomes apparent that wherever we are is fairly similar to where we are right now. --- All sounds recorded in London between April and March 2020 during lockdown. Made using various instruments, devices, field recordings and objects including; a synthesiser, modified violin and penny whistle, balloons, tape recorders, bird whistles, bells, a sampler, gardening tools, E3 dawn chorus and other materials found around the house. Both poems were written in response to walks through Victoria park during lockdown. All music recorded, mixed & mastered by Malvern Brume. Cover design by Oliver Barrett.