Broads: “Field Theory” and ‘Us & The Buzzing’ video preview – Humm Recordings

After several releases as a solo artist, James Ferguson says Broads’ dynamics started to change with the release of the ‘Hellas’ LP (Jan 2016), undergoing a kind of sonic breakthrough with Mark now joining James for live shows and co-writing one of its tracks ‘Soft Homo’ – the first time Broads had really arrived at their now-signature sound, marrying droning, lo-fi synths and slow build through repetition with straightforward electronics.

Broads started to perform more around Norwich and occasionally in Cambridge, Suffolk and London. By the time Broads released their split album ‘Local Closures’ with Mark’s other project EPIA, they were opening for Mercury Rev at the Norwich Arts Centre, followed soon after by Broads’ third album ‘Everything is Spinning, Nobody Is Actually In Charge’ (December 2016) with Mark and James once again co-writing.

Some very cool developments were happening for the duo, including work on a live soundtrack for the British Film Institute – composing for a sequence of archive film footage of rural/agricultural Norfolk scenes, and performing live in beautiful venues across the region – as well as a sold-out gig at the NAC with Plaid.

“Finding the balance between space and rich texture is something we’re really interested in, and hopefully something we’ve started to achieve on Field Theory,” explains James Ferguson. “The sound of the album is very much influenced by the recording environments and our geographical context as a whole – Norwich is kind of isolated, surrounded by expansive, flat landscapes and big skies.”

“For us, it’s a really big deal – our first record written as a 2-piece, and the first time we’ve had any sort of budget to spend,” says Mark Jennings. “We got support from Arts Council England to make everything happen and that has given us the chance to really take time over our writing, programming, editing and recording, and get some amazing people involved with making the record – especially Owen Turner (Magoo) who recorded quite a lot of it and mixed the whole thing.”

Apart from the geographic factor, Broads took inspiration from left field on this album – from road biking in the Scottish Highlands to news of George Romero’s death, Purity Ring’s second album and Unwound’s ‘New Plastic Ideas’, as well as lot of old sci-fi and horror movies.

CREDITS

Live Photos by Matt Tullett