Sachi Kobayashi – Weathervane CD

“Once upon a time, we looked outward”…. The German Ocean formed in late 2020, a partnership between Darren j Holloway of SINNEN and Gavin Martin. It very quickly became apparent that the sounds and shapes coming out of this pairing were a significant departure from those of the SINNEN collective, harking back to Darren’s days as producer of filmic ambient mini-scores but with a fresh, harsher, darker edge. There was something timeless in the mix, something oceanic in the sound, moments and phases reminding the listener of a Great War era submarine chugging ghost-like just below periscope depth. The eight songs on this eponymous debut formed, floated, swam and dived through the cold waters of The North Lands, perhaps hinting at a reminder that things were not always so introspective as they seem now, and that maybe our better futures lie somewhere beyond renamed borders and sea masses. Welcome (back) to The German Ocean.

Luke Brennan is a composer and multi-instrumentalist from a seaside town called Bray in Wicklow, Ireland, now living in Hackney, east London. The Rush to the Sky comprises guitar, violin, organ, midi synth, field recordings and found sounds and was performed and constructed in both Bray and Hackney. The main inspiration came from one of the field recordings of swifts flying over Luke’s flat. He made that recording the year before and was finishing the piece a year later when those same birds were back flying overhead, giving a wonderful sense of place and time and of the season.