Tales from the River Ouse: Mark Chadwick on the Haunting, Hans Zimmer-Inspired Ouse Dragon
The Levellers singer trades driving folk-punk for cinematic soundscapes, spatial audio, and local mythology in a stunning new solo album
Words and Photos: David Weddle
Artist: Mark Chadwick
Artist: Mark Chadwick
"It is made in defiance of the modern era. You can't 'blipvert' it—you literally have to sit and listen." — Mark Chadwick
Best known as the frontman of the legendary band Levellers, Mark Chadwick has had his fair share of musical successes, and now on the eve of the 35th anniversary of the band's second album Levelling the Land he is stepping out on his own with a solo album like no other.
Ouse Dragon isn't your typical solo record and it is definitely not a standard folk release either. It is what can only be described as an immersive, cinematic exploration of the mythology and modern dark folklore of the town of Lewes and the River Ouse.
I had the pleasure of chatting to Mark about the album and got an insight to the creative process and the ideas behind the music. Starting at the very beginning with the title track Ouse Dragon, I wanted to find out what the Dragon actually was, Mark said " Well, it's the title for the album, but the album is basically sort of like vignettes and tales of things that have happened in the town in the recent history of it. But the town's got a lot of history. It's a very old town and Anglo-Saxon, before that even. There is a folk legend, folk myth of dragons and rivers in the South. The Ouse is the river that runs through Lewes and there was a guard who disappeared one Christmas about three, five years ago, something like that. It made national headlines and he just disappeared. No one knew why it was during the Christmas week. And he didn't reappear until he was found drowned, right at the mouth of the river. And quite often people disappear at Christmas around the river and bodies have been found and stuff. So I'm just telling the story, that story, but tying it to the myth and the actual reality of the actual event."
It is a stunning track that has so many layers to it. It has an overriding, cinematic feel with a soundscape that feels larger than life. Mark's advice is to listen to the album through earphones to get the full effect and I totally agree with him on that one. You need to switch off from everything else and focus on taking yourself off into another world for a little while.
I asked Mark how he approached writing a song that complex, he explains, "The actual song is a very basic, folk ballad. I wrote it as a folk ballad, but I wanted to record it like Hans Zimmer... I love the soundtracks to Dune and Blade Runner... I was like, 'What if there was a vocal in the middle of it?' So the song becomes cinematic. So you get a song with the cinematic and Zimmer effect around that. So it's almost the same as watching a film instead of the actors. Moving on a screen presenting the tale, you've got a singer presenting the tale with the same atmospheric surrounding."
Ouse Dragon isn't your typical solo record and it is definitely not a standard folk release either. It is what can only be described as an immersive, cinematic exploration of the mythology and modern dark folklore of the town of Lewes and the River Ouse.
I had the pleasure of chatting to Mark about the album and got an insight to the creative process and the ideas behind the music. Starting at the very beginning with the title track Ouse Dragon, I wanted to find out what the Dragon actually was, Mark said " Well, it's the title for the album, but the album is basically sort of like vignettes and tales of things that have happened in the town in the recent history of it. But the town's got a lot of history. It's a very old town and Anglo-Saxon, before that even. There is a folk legend, folk myth of dragons and rivers in the South. The Ouse is the river that runs through Lewes and there was a guard who disappeared one Christmas about three, five years ago, something like that. It made national headlines and he just disappeared. No one knew why it was during the Christmas week. And he didn't reappear until he was found drowned, right at the mouth of the river. And quite often people disappear at Christmas around the river and bodies have been found and stuff. So I'm just telling the story, that story, but tying it to the myth and the actual reality of the actual event."
It is a stunning track that has so many layers to it. It has an overriding, cinematic feel with a soundscape that feels larger than life. Mark's advice is to listen to the album through earphones to get the full effect and I totally agree with him on that one. You need to switch off from everything else and focus on taking yourself off into another world for a little while.
I asked Mark how he approached writing a song that complex, he explains, "The actual song is a very basic, folk ballad. I wrote it as a folk ballad, but I wanted to record it like Hans Zimmer... I love the soundtracks to Dune and Blade Runner... I was like, 'What if there was a vocal in the middle of it?' So the song becomes cinematic. So you get a song with the cinematic and Zimmer effect around that. So it's almost the same as watching a film instead of the actors. Moving on a screen presenting the tale, you've got a singer presenting the tale with the same atmospheric surrounding."
I think he has achieved what he set out to, and he did that with some local help at his friends studio that is used for cinema, "We used real boffins, with real analogue wave generators really. They're not really synthesizers as such. These are really specky dads that live in basements making weird noises on things that look like telephone exchanges. We’d play them a raw vocal track and say, 'Conjure noises around this.'"
That willingness to think outside the box has really made for an album that you need to listen to over and over as you hear something new every time which is something Mark also alluded to "You really do. Yeah, it's It is made in defiance of the modern era. You can't blipvert it. Literally, you have to listen to it. And the fact that it's all got one subject matter as well, a town."
There are six tracks in total with the title track almost hitting the 9 minute mark, but it never gets boring, if you are willing to let yourself get fully immersed in the sound, the time really does fly by. The final version of the album is going to sound incredible as Mark explains, "The final version really is immersive if you listen to it on Apple Atmos or whatever, any streaming service that does Atmos because it's been mixed to Atmos as well. Even more sounds coming from behind and left and right and diagonally and all sorts, which is that's ultimately the game." The sound is going to be next level so make sure you get those earphones in or headphones on.
The artwork has been provided by Levellers bandmate Jeremy Cunningham, whose distinctive artwork Levellers fans will be very familiar with. With releasing an album that is outside of your usual remit could easily be daunting so I wanted to see if there was anything that Mark was nervous about and he was very positive, "Do you know what? If they're listening to it means they're music fans, so they'll give it a go. You know what I mean?". Asked what he hoped people would get from the album he said, "Just literally the length of time it is escapism, to your escapism into another world really for a bit. That's what I want them to do. I mean, it'll be, I'll never play it live. I might be able to play some of the songs live because they're basically just songs. I'm actually on the CD when it's released. I've done 6 acoustic guitar versions of the songs, which is just me singing and playing acoustic guitar. So the people can contrast them, you know?"
Each track on the album has been carefully crafted to tell an individual tale and thanks to Mark's storytelling skills, those often tragic stories are treated with care and respect and together those individual stories, create the tale of Ouse Dragon, and I for one am completely sold on this album and the ingenuity and skill that has gone in to it. The album is available from the 21st of August.
If you are looking for me to score it, well I think you already know by now, it's a 5 out of 5 for sure.
That willingness to think outside the box has really made for an album that you need to listen to over and over as you hear something new every time which is something Mark also alluded to "You really do. Yeah, it's It is made in defiance of the modern era. You can't blipvert it. Literally, you have to listen to it. And the fact that it's all got one subject matter as well, a town."
There are six tracks in total with the title track almost hitting the 9 minute mark, but it never gets boring, if you are willing to let yourself get fully immersed in the sound, the time really does fly by. The final version of the album is going to sound incredible as Mark explains, "The final version really is immersive if you listen to it on Apple Atmos or whatever, any streaming service that does Atmos because it's been mixed to Atmos as well. Even more sounds coming from behind and left and right and diagonally and all sorts, which is that's ultimately the game." The sound is going to be next level so make sure you get those earphones in or headphones on.
The artwork has been provided by Levellers bandmate Jeremy Cunningham, whose distinctive artwork Levellers fans will be very familiar with. With releasing an album that is outside of your usual remit could easily be daunting so I wanted to see if there was anything that Mark was nervous about and he was very positive, "Do you know what? If they're listening to it means they're music fans, so they'll give it a go. You know what I mean?". Asked what he hoped people would get from the album he said, "Just literally the length of time it is escapism, to your escapism into another world really for a bit. That's what I want them to do. I mean, it'll be, I'll never play it live. I might be able to play some of the songs live because they're basically just songs. I'm actually on the CD when it's released. I've done 6 acoustic guitar versions of the songs, which is just me singing and playing acoustic guitar. So the people can contrast them, you know?"
Each track on the album has been carefully crafted to tell an individual tale and thanks to Mark's storytelling skills, those often tragic stories are treated with care and respect and together those individual stories, create the tale of Ouse Dragon, and I for one am completely sold on this album and the ingenuity and skill that has gone in to it. The album is available from the 21st of August.
If you are looking for me to score it, well I think you already know by now, it's a 5 out of 5 for sure.
