James Welburn

James Welburn is a UK-born bass-guitar player and composer who currently resides in Norway. James has been active in music for many years – since the early 1990s – but his first full-length solo release, Hold, came out on Miasmah only in 2015. This LP, which was recorded with The Necks’ drummer Tony Buck (a long-time collaborator on Transmit and Project Transmit), is a special treat for anyone who enjoys grand narratives and atmospherics in drone, post-rock and other related areas of “heavy” music – and it was all realised using only a minor arsenal. It’s the remarkable ideas that make this album so stunning. James’ vision creates long, drawn-out tracks that are meditative despite their overwhelming abrasiveness, and have a strong sense of direction and purpose. The background is always a rich and detailed floating choir of noises and drones singing some monumental epic. In short, hopefully the wait for new James Welburn material will not be a long one. And in the meantime…

In the records

STM 204 is a truly personal piece of work – there is nothing superficial or glib about it. In keeping with what makes James tick, he has given us a lengthy compilation that gives a lot of space for each track to breathe and do its work. The mix is a musical diary of James’ travels over the past couple of years and includes only the work of artists he personally got to know and grew to enjoy the music of. The general blend of musical forms on here is a balance of industrial/noise, such as Human Larvae, Matter, Yodok; ambient music, such as the long and beautiful folk piece by Origami Arktika; and rock/metal music – BARST or Masselys. Most tracks are extensive, slow-building and genuinely evocative. Emotion is celebrated and felt in its entirety – all nuance included – rather than chopped into pieces and served as appetizers. Not much of a workplace listen, but then this is precisely the time for reflection. James Welburn’s mix recalls Arkhip Kuindzhi’s impressionistic painting of the Crimea landscape. It is a turbulent – supercharged – image, yet at the same time, paradoxically, there is calm in its ominous depths.