CONCRETE ISLAND, by THE HEARTWOOD INSTITUTE & HAWKSMOOR

CONCRETE ISLAND

by THE HEARTWOOD INSTITUTE & HAWKSMOOR

supported by

boogiedroid Sodium lights reveal chrome motorik forms before the shadows swallow them only to be revealed over & over again, the horizon invisible in the night.

Favorite track: Median Strip.

more...

	/

Streaming + Download

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Purchasable with gift card

£7 GBP or more
Limited Edition Cassette - Shattered Windscreen variant
Cassette + Digital Album
Strictly limited tape release for Concrete Island by The Heartwood Institute and Hawksmoor. Exclusively commissioned 'brutalist' artwork by Eric Adrian Lee.

Available on a choice of cassette shells. ** This version is Shattered Windscreen / Clear Glitter shell **

Includes unlimited streaming of CONCRETE ISLAND via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Sold Out
Limited Edition Cassette - Brutalist Block variant
Cassette + Digital Album
Strictly limited cassette issue of Concrete Island by The Heartwood Institute and Hawksmoor, with exclusively commissioned artwork by Eric Adrian Lee for this release.

Available in two tape shell variants. ** This is the Brutalist Block / Concrete Grey variant **

Includes unlimited streaming of CONCRETE ISLAND via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Sold Out

	1.	The Architect (An Arrogant Protagonist) 03:44
	2.	Through The Crash Barrier 04:29
	3.	Rainstorm / Burning Car 04:24
	4.	Median Strip 04:35
	5.	Fire Signal 04:05
	6.	Beast And Rider 03:42
	7.	Delirium 04:16
	8.	A Pavilion Of Doors 04:09
	9.	Escape 03:11

about

Concrete Island, music by The Heartwood Institute & Hawksmoor

Our collaboration was initiated in February 2020, on the cusp of what would become a historically fateful year.

We began with no rules and by sharing files, which could range from a modular loop to a bass line, melody or rhythm track, or something more realised that needed a fresh pair of ears to deconstruct and re-work it.

Eventually something cohesive began to take shape. It wasn’t always an easy listen and frequently the results thrown up by our musical game of Exquisite Corpse took the initial ideas on unexpected tangents. Over the course of a year, however, we consolidated and trimmed down a decent collection of material to an album length.

Possibly in reaction to our own personal circumstances and living through 2020, thematically the music sounded brutalist, even harsh in parts. But there were still places in which the verdant shoots of melody could break through, like the central reservation of a motorway reclaimed by nature.

Given this, J.G. Ballard’s Concrete Island provided a natural thematic choice and narrative arc on which to hang such music. Our compositions began arriving, or maybe crashing, at a junction where motorik electronica blended with the post-punk aesthetic of dub bass lines and fractured synths.

The tracks on the album now play like filmic snapshots of scenes, capturing our ‘arrogant protagonist’ escaping the city, crashing and burning – and then attempting to negotiate and escape from the concrete landscape.

credits

released March 5, 2021

Performed & produced by Jonathan Sharpe and James McKeown

license

about

Spun Out Of Control London, UK

Boutique music label publishing & promoting the best in synth-based electronica, actual & imagined soundtracks from talented new composers.

Follow us on Twitter @SpunOutSounds to hear first about new releases!

contact / help

Contact Spun Out Of Control

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like CONCRETE ISLAND, you may also like:

Interim Report, March 1979
by Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan

supported by 111 fans who also own “CONCRETE ISLAND”

This is probably my favourite album..when does it get a repress...soon I hope.. I get the same melancholia when I listen to this as I get when i hear the strains of a well drilled pit band drifting through the ether of my mind... these albums speak of and about the sociology of people and thier places in a crumbling socialistic infrastructure ,and of the industry that employs and shapes thier lives,in the current tense and also a nostalgic magical utopian tense of public information film christopherogley
go to album
Parapsychedelia
by The Heartwood Institute and Panamint Manse

supported by 104 fans who also own “CONCRETE ISLAND”

A finely-crafted example of hauntological excellence, and immensely playable. Zamantaliege
go to album
Drew Mulholland - A Haunting Strip Of Marshland
by Drew Mulholland

supported by 99 fans who also own “CONCRETE ISLAND”
go to album
Memory Tracer
by AURAGRAPH

The latest from AURAGRAPH offers pulsing synthwave full of texture and color, emphasizing melody above all. Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 25, 2020
go to album
Hit Rendition
by Petridisch

Beautiful, moody dark ambient music that conjures shadowy worlds with just a few layers of synth. Bandcamp New & Notable May 14, 2019
go to album
Other World
by Madeline Goldstein

Madeline Goldstein's fusion of cinematic dream pop and darkwave manages to sound both nostalgic and contemporary. Bandcamp New & Notable May 16, 2023
go to album
Field Lines Cartographer - Modalities of Time Travel
by Castles in Space Subscription Library

supported by 99 fans who also own “CONCRETE ISLAND”

REALLY wish I'd subscribed sooner to be able to enjoy this on vinyl! Curious the artist cited 12 Monkeys and not La Jetee as one of the key inspirations. For me, this has a more somber, introspective and timeless feel more akin to La Jetee than 12 Monkeys (though I also am a big fan of Terry Gilliam). Gorgeous music and you get the bonus of a list of excellent movies to enjoy (another note to the artist: Time Crimes is also a good film to watch). Now to somehow procure a vinyl copy... Anthony Childs
go to album