''The North Sea Scrolls'' is a collaborative project by
Luke Haines
Luke Michael Haines (born 7 October 1967) is an English musician, songwriter and author. He has recorded music under various names and with various bands, including The Auteurs, Baader Meinhof and Black Box Recorder.
Career
''New Wave''
Haine ...
,
Cathal Coughlan and
Andrew Mueller
Andrew Mueller is an Australian-born, London-based journalist and author. He is a contributing editor at ''Monocle'', and also regularly writes for ''The Independent'', ''The Independent on Sunday'', ''The Financial Times'', '' Esquire'', ''The ...
which was performed live in 2011, with an album following in 2012.
Background
An alternative musical history of the
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...
, ''The North Sea Scrolls'' was originally performed at the
Edge Festival in
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
in August 2011.
[Graham, Ben (2012)]
North Sea Scrolls: Coughlan, Haines, Mueller Present New History
, The Quietus
''The Quietus'' is a British online music and pop culture magazine founded by John Doran and Luke Turner. The site is an editorially independent publication led by Doran with a group of freelance journalists and critics.
Content
''The Quiet ...
, 17 August 2011. Retrieved 25 November 2012 The premis is that historical documents showing a different version of history were passed to Haines and Coughlan by the actor
Tony Allen.
The show featured songs based on this alternative history performed by Haines and Coughlan, with narration from Mueller.
[Nissim, Mayer (2012)]
Luke Haines 'North Sea Scrolls' tour dates announced
, Digital Spy
Digital Spy (DS) is a British-based entertainment, television and film website and brand and is the largest digital property at Hearst UK. Since its launch in 1999, Digital Spy has focused on entertainment news related to television programmes, ...
, 21 September 2012. Retrieved 25 November 2012
Haines described his motivation for the project: "It occurred to me that we understand everything now. I wanted to do something that made people go, 'What the fuck is this?' There comes a time in a man's life, when he must make the ultimate concept album."
[ Rogers, Jude (2012)]
Luke Haines: 'I've been lucky all the way through'
, ''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', 18 November 2012. Retrieved 25 November 2012
An album of the show was released on the Fantastic Plastic label on 19 November 2012.
[Price, Simon (2012)]
Album: The North Sea Scrolls, The North Sea Scrolls
, ''The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'', 18 November 2012. Retrieved 25 November 2012 A limited edition two-disc version featured a full performance of the show on a second disc.
[Tuffrey, Laurie (2012)]
The North Sea Scrolls Album & Lecture Due
, The Quietus
''The Quietus'' is a British online music and pop culture magazine founded by John Doran and Luke Turner. The site is an editorially independent publication led by Doran with a group of freelance journalists and critics.
Content
''The Quiet ...
, 10 September 2012. Retrieved 25 November 2012
The album was described by
Simon Price
Simon Price (born 25 September 1967) is a British music journalist and author. He is known for his weekly review section in ''The Independent on Sunday'' and his book ''Everything (A Book About Manic Street Preachers)''.
Career Writer
Pric ...
in ''
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'' as "deeply engrossing" and ringing "resoundingly with cultural and historical truth".
Will Hodgkinson, Writing in ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'' gave the album a four star review.
[Hodgkinson, Will (2012)]
The North Sea Scrolls: The North Sea Scrolls
, ''The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'', 24 November 2012. Retrieved 25 November 2012 Jude Rogers
Jude Rogers (born 1978) is a Welsh journalist, lecturer, arts critic and broadcaster. She is a music critic for ''The Guardian'' and also regularly writes features and articles for ''The Observer'', ''New Statesman'' and women's magazines such a ...
, writing in ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', described it as "a discombulating listen, but also a daft, enjoyable one".
A series of live performances was announced for November and December 2012.
It is thought that new work drawn from the Scrolls is unlikely to surface until such time as the social and political news in the English-speaking world ceases being so far-fetched, and emanating from such an implausible and unsympathetic cast of characters.
Track listing
;Disc 1:
#"Preamble - Intro"
#"Broadmoor Blues Delta"
#"Mr Cynthia"
#"I'm Not The Man You Think I Am Karen, I'm The Actor Tony Allen"
#"Witches In The Water"
#"I Am Falconetti"
#"The Papal Pagan"
#"Ayatollah Cornelius"
#"The Morris Man Cometh"
#"Tim Hardin MP"
#"Enoch Powell - Space Poet"
#"The Australian IRA Show"
#"My Mother My Dead Mother"
#"Narration - (outro)"
#"Anthem Of The Scrolls"
;Disc 2:
#"Preamble – intro"
#"Scroll 1"
#"Broadmoor Blues Delta"
#"Scroll 2"
#"Mr Cynthia"
#"Scroll 3"
#"I'm Not The Man You Think I Am Karen, I'm The Actor Tony Allen"
#"Scroll 4"
#"Witches In The Water"
#"Scroll 5"
#"The Papal Pagan"
#"Scroll 6"
#"Ayatollah Cornelius"
#"Scroll 7"
#"I Am Falconetti"
#"Scroll 8"
#"The Morris Man Cometh"
#"Scroll 9"
#"Tim Hardin MP"
#"Scroll 10"
#"Enoch Powell Space Poet"
#"Scroll 11"
#"The Australian IRA Show"
#"Scroll 12"
#"My Mother My Dead Mother"
#"Narration/outro"
#"Anthem Of The Scrolls"
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:North Sea Scrolls
2012 albums
Luke Haines albums