The Breedling

The untamed Fens were damp, desolate, and dire. Many people throughout history have tried to tame them, but not without resistance: The Breedlings were a tribe of ‘semi-amphibious savages’ struggling to survive in this dank land, resisting and fighting desperately to preserve their insular, uncompromisingly harsh way of life against the interference of outsiders. They were a people apart, and proud of it.

Chris Spalton - The Breedling – comes from this land and has been circling the periphery of the music scene for years via his art, design, and video for several notable artists (Part Chimp and Hey Colossus to name two). This is his first foray into music-making and his debut release. These songs come from a particular place and a particular time, realised through modern technology. Spalton has taken an inquisitive, DIY approach and attitude to the way he uses sound.

The Breedling’s debut release Irukandji (Wrong Speed, 2023) felt instinctive and almost playful in the way he used sound, rhythm, and texture so freely and without the usual constraints and genre rules that can restrict and tether electronic music in the wrong hands.

Occasionally (and excellently) crude, the listener genuinely feels the excitement that Spalton felt as the collages of sound were put together. They conjure images of the landscape, history, folklore, and defiance that inspired its creation.

Detritus feels like a natural progression. A little more structured and thematic but no less primal or thrilling. Each song sees The Breedling take a single topic and create an imaginary soundtrack to accompany the telling. Brutal beheadings, slaughter, Hereward the Wake, Witch-Finder Generals, Seahenge and murder in the name of self-defence in a remote farmhouse (and everything that followed it). These are not jolly tales of life in the country.

Detritus picks at the flat lands and finds something unsettling, deep, and timeless swimming with the eels under the murky waters. This is a collection of multi-dimensional slabs of sound designed to evoke something living from these tales of horror, be they real, imagined or somewhere between the two.

“…genuinely interesting. Like the films of Ben Wheatley are interesting. Or a big painting by Robert Motherwell… (Irukandji is) in the vein of Scorn, JK Flesh, Helm, Raime and other experts in creating abstract moody atmospheres. Like them, Spalton builds tension with space and slowness”
– JR Moores (The Quietus)

Illustrations by James Brindley

Website & Visualisation by Wondermake