Craven Faults Interview: “I always appreciated being in the background”

It is often said that the best work is done in the shadows, and in the case of Craven Faults, this certainly rings true.

The anonymous Yorkshire producer has carved out an intriguing story since their debut EP, Netherfield Works in 2017, and following two more extended-plays – Springhead Works and Nunroyd Works (both 2019) – Craven Faults’ breakthrough 2020 debut LP, Erratics & Unconformities, saw the project reach wider plains.

Erratics & Unconformities’ 2023 follow-up, Standers – alongside shorter single disc releases, Enclosures (2020) and Bounds (2024) – also saw Craven Faults feeling their way through rugged, moonlit paths, creating the kind of uncertainty tailored for these times.

Although there’s an apparent inwardness and isolation to much of Craven Faults’ work, there’s also an outwardness to it. An escapism, making it a multi-faceted concern, as Craven Faults’ view of northern Britain unfurls as something panoramic. And on their third double LP, Sidings, the picture hasn’t been clearer.

Once again Craven Faults sources inspiration from the seclusion and vastness of the post-industrial north. Places where industry once thrived, now merely objects of decline. Sidings’ opening piece, Ganger, captures this in high definition. A a mélange of greys and blacks, Craven Faults conjures up the kind of backdrop akin to a TransPennine Express service snaking through moors in the later hours.

It’s a good place to indulge Sidings. From the shimmering tunnel drone of Stoneyman to the Kosmische-leaning psychedelia of Yard Loup, Up Goods Distant, Down Goods Home and Incline Huttes – the latter seeing Craven Faults explore similar locales inhabited by fellow northerner Fred Laird of Empty House.

Meanwhile, the gritty textures of Drover Hoke Sike evoke the same colours and feelings as Ganger; its residue dripping into Far Closes, which makes for the perfect bookend that bottles up every emotion of Sidings. Stark, hypnotic and subtlety majestic, it’s another chapter where new places are explored and new stories are told, making it Craven Faults’ most accomplished release to date.

Earlier this month, Carven Faults answered a series of questions about Sidings, as well as their journey so far, and where they may travel to in the future.

Sun 13: Do you remember the moment or the thing that inspired you to start making music as Craven Faults?

Craven Faults: “I do, in a way. I had been playing with the modular synth for a couple of years, just experimenting and generally being blown away by the amazing sounds you could get out of it when one day I thought I should start to make something more structured with it, or at least finish some of the things I had been working on. It was simply a decision to stop messing around and get on with something concrete. The parts of the synthesiser which excited me the most were the sequencers and the ability to create interlocking patterns of notes with gradually shifting textures and tones. It was a matter of condensing ideas into simplified forms. From this I developed a kind of method and structure for working.”

S13: Anonymity feels like a difficult thing to achieve in this modern age. Have you always set out to be tucked away in the shadows?

CF: “It really grew out of the first EP release which had very little information on it. I have been working in music for many years, studio work mostly, I always appreciated being in the background, keeping busy and I’m just continuing in that way. It feels normal to me and it’s a good excuse to avoid doing the usual social media aspect of the music industry.”

S13: Was the recording process and approach for Sidings any different from your past recordings?

CF: “I don’t think the recording process was very much different. Studio processes and methods of working change all the time, doing things in slightly different ways from previously, but there was no plan to change anything. The only conscious change I made this time was to give myself a deadline to try and be a bit more focused and decisive about what I was doing. I used to work on a part for a track and try out every combination of arrangement and sound I could think of, now I stop myself, think about what is necessary, and try to concentrate on that and be more efficient. The structure and arrangement of the tracks is still the same. I always try to use as few notes as possible, no sudden key changes or dynamic shifts.”

S13: What was the most important aspect you wanted to capture with the record?

CF: “Probably no different from previous records, variation, cohesion, continuity and flow.”

S13: Having both been released in January, I feel like there’s a connection between Sidings and Erratics & Unconformities. Is that something you’ve thought about, or do you leave these aspects open to the listener’s interpretation?

CF: “I’m not particularly aware of a connection between Erratics & Unconformities and Sidings any more than with Standers. I don’t know why but I think maybe January is a good month for a Craven Faults double LP, perhaps we’ll keep doing that in future! Erratics should have been out the previous year, but something held it up, can’t remember what, pressing issues most likely. I leave nearly all aspects of the releases to the listeners interpretation. Once the record is released, I have let go of it, it almost ceases to be mine anymore but belongs to anyone who may be interested.”

S13: When listening to Craven Faults, I always sense history and architecture. How much do these aspects inform your music, if at all?

CF: “The music comes from listening to other music and absorbing sounds, what goes in will come out. Instrumental music is a kind of abstract art form, created (possibly) without meaning. Not all instrumental music of course, but meaning can be applied afterwards, once a piece has been created, and both these aspects will be a reflection of the artist’s character. I’m not sure how much of the music comes directly from my interest in the landscape around me and what can be found there.

“History is a part of this process, architecture perhaps less so. I tend not to draw lines between different disciplines such as geology, archaeology, history etc. I’m curious, I want to know why something is the way it is and how it got that way. It could be a ruined building, a carved rock, the remains of an old mine, or something mundane like a piece of rusty iron attached to a standing stone, things that once had purpose which have changed over time. These interests inform my character, and my character infuses the music.”

S13: From the outset of the project, did you envisage your artwork to possess the continuity it has, or has it just naturally developed this way?

CF: “I didn’t really have a plan from the start of how, or if the artwork would have a continuity or if it would change. Each new release seemed to suggest variation on the previous records imagery. I’m glad there is a continuity, it’s like a link through a body of work. The photography aspect hasn’t changed very much over the years, but the graphic design and layout elements have.”

S13: With regards to your process, are there any necessities you need in order to make music?

CF: “Time. It takes time to do this, and the equipment of course! As I said previously, I gave myself a deadline to make the new record (I was only one month over) because I don’t want to waste any time. I mentioned the equipment and this is important to me because I like the tactile approach to making music. I record to a computer, and edit and mix on it but the sounds are made on all the things I have in my small studio space, and I have accumulated quite a lot over the years, not just instruments but processors also, tape echo machines, spring reverbs etc. I prefer to limit myself to using the hardware equipment rather than the unlimited possibilities of software. I guess I am saying it’s a necessity for me to limit myself in some ways, but I don’t impose rules on myself.”

S13: Are you working on music every day, or is it more sporadic than that?

CF: “Every day that I can. I don’t take days off, but I do have other aspects to my life so I’m not working on Craven Faults every day, sometimes I’m in tears studio working on projects for other people. I wouldn’t describe it as sporadic. Even if I am not recording all the time the music is always in my head. The new album is out end of January and I’m already working on new pieces; it’s an endless cycle. I try to work Monday to Friday and have weekends off, I think it’s important to take care of your life outside of music.”

S13: Do you think the sounds of Craven Faults would be different if they were made in another part of the U.K. or indeed, anywhere else in the world?

CF: “It’s an interesting question, and I have asked it myself before. I think the answer is yes but perhaps not radically different. I have no idea how different or why it should be. If I lived in Norfolk for instance, or even elsewhere in the world I would be influenced by my surroundings in those places. It would depend on the kind of location of course. Where I am I spend a lot of time on my own in the studio and when I am out on the moors in Yorkshire and Cumbria I usually go to places where there are very few people so there’s always a sense of isolation but also of openness and expanse. If I was making music in the centre of London, I cannot imagine what it would be like, perhaps there would be a far greater number of outside influences. Who knows?”

S13: Do you think you’ll always make music under the Craven Faults banner?

CF: “In my mind I do but I know full well that nothing is forever and things constantly change. I’m not good at planning far ahead or thinking of the future in general. I’m influenced by the past, but my mind is always in the here and now. I don’t really have any desires to make any other kind of music under a different name; I’m quite content with what I am currently doing.”

Sidings is out now via The Leaf Label. Purchase from Bandcamp.