In terms of DIY scenes all across the world, collaboration and community are the last line of defence in a world where a new world that seemingly continues to reject the notion of creation. From modern listening habits geared towards streaming to dwindling live spaces, there’s no longer an ‘industry’ for DIY artists. It’s a community.
Since Gayle Brogan’s first band, Electroscope, the Scotland-born, Sheffield based-artist has been a key player in the U.K.’s underground, both as a collaborator and most recently as co-promotor for DIY shows.
From the haunting minimal folk of Burd Ellen (the collaboration alongside Debbie Armour), to Barrett’s Dottled Beauty (also featuring Kitchen Cynics’ Alan Davidson) and everything in between (the drone trio, MMM, featuring guitarist, Nick Jonah Davis, and Haress’ Elizabeth Still), the epi-centre of Brogan’s sound world comes by way of her Pefkin project.
On Pefkin’s latest release, Unfurling (her fourth for Belgium label, Morc), the multi-instrumentalist continues to follow the drone to far-off places. With a mélange of instruments from viola, Moog Grandmother and chime bars to harmonium, Korg Volca and melodica, on Unfurling, Brogan expertly weaves field recordings and her angel-like vocals into a rich tapestry.
Beginning with the long-form Green Bound In Ice and Snow, it dovetails with The Dissonance to form a pulse that cuts through a winter’s night, as imagery of northern Britain becomes distilled through the sound. And reaching a beautiful crescendo on the lingering folk drone of The Sun of the West and My Breath the Sea, Unfurling is untethered from the modern world. Informed by history and the environment, it’s these earthy mediations that enrich the Pefkin story, which has become more refined with each release.
Shortly after the release of Unfurling as well as the announcement of MMM’s appearance at this year’s edition of Birmingham’s Supersonic Festival in April, Brogan answered some questions about her journey so far.
Sun 13: You’ve been involved in Britain’s underground scene for many years now. With the landscape constantly shifting with how music is consumed, along with the fact that DIY live spaces are shrinking, just how hard is it to maintain enthusiasm as an underground artist?
Gayle Brogan: “I first got involved in music back in 1995 so I’ve been through complete disillusionment a few times over the last 30 years!
“Moving to Sheffield from a small town just outside Glasgow just over two years ago changed things enormously for me as an artist and just generally as a music fan. It feels like there is a good music community here. I co-promote small scale DIY gigs in a Tudor museum with my partner where we create the gig space, promote, engineer, cook and host so that keeps costs low and we can pay artists a decent fee. We do about 50 gigs a year and people comment that we have created a lovely community. It feels really important to do this given the challenges that exist within live music right now and more generally the societal difficulties we are facing just now.
“The first Electroscope single came out in an edition of 1000 and sold out quickly… imagine that! I can’t even imagine doing a single these days as it’s just not worth it. I wouldn’t want to be in a position of trying to make my living from being a musician and having to ‘diversify my income’ – I have a full-time job, so I can choose to make whatever music I want or work with whomever I want. I think I would struggle to be enthusiastic if I was having to consider making ad music for Starbucks or something in order to pay my bills!!
“The biggest difference for me though is the people I am collaborating with outside of my Pefkin work, so that’s in Burd Ellen, MMM, Greenshank and others. That’s honestly the one thing that keeps me enthused about being a musician, working with such generous and incredible artists.”
S13: Unfurling fees like your most complete release yet. Was the process any different from past Pefkin releases?
GB: “I feel like I’ve been refining my sound down to its bare bones. My last album for Morc was Celestial Navigations in 2020 and I threw everything but the kitchen sink at it with overdubs of harp, bass clarinet, clarinet, VCS3, and more, at it. While I love that kind of over-produced confection, I’ve slowly been peeling the layers away in subsequent albums and feel like I’ve let the songs really settle and breathe now.
“The process hasn’t really changed in how I write since then – I start with a vague idea for a drone or pattern and let it play while I flick through books of notes for a suggestion of something that feels ‘right’ for the piece of music or song to be about, and then I build it from there. The main difference is that I’ve stopped adding extra layers of sound or instruments for the sake of it. There’s always a melancholy at the heart of my sound, I think. I think the more minimal approach helps to reveal that more clearly.”
Pefkin - UnfurlingS13: What was the most important aspect you wanted to capture with this record?
GB: “On side A, I wanted to capture that hope of renewal in spring from within the depths of winter, so I wanted the music to feel expansive, like the sun creeping over the rooftops to bring life into the garden. On side B, I wanted to bring a sense of isolation to the fore as well as the uncertainty and sense of foreboding that dusk can bring. I often have a vision of a certain landscape, weather, time of day that I want to depict and that drives the sound.”
S13: It has a very northern feel to it. I get the sense of folklore and medieval imagery. Were these aspects close to your thoughts while writing and recording the album?
GB: “The Dissonance was written in response to “Penda’s Fen”, which is of course full of pre-Christian symbolism and folklore. I reference the coming of Christianity to the west coast of Scotland from Ireland in My Breath The Sea. My work with Meadowsilver is more explicitly folkloric and of course, the album I made with Alison O’Donnell on the folklore of birds.”
S13: The environment has always played a large role in your work, too. Do you enjoy being out in open space and do you think it is an influence on your work?
GB: “The natural world is an enormous influence on my work. As I mentioned earlier, every time I write, I have a very clear vision in my head of where the song is set and that drives the sound. I enjoy making field recordings to use in live sets and on recordings too. I used to get out for a walk every day when I lived in Scotland, out of the town and up to the lochs or to the rookery, and I still focus on that area. I haven’t managed to find a similar routine in the city (Sheffield) but enjoy getting out to the moors and dales when I can. I don’t feel I’ve fully got to grips with them yet so they haven’t featured in my music yet.”
S13: With regards to your process, are there any necessities you need in order to create?
GB: “I need time, which I can struggle with due to work and other commitments. I like to record at home as it’s what I’ve always done and I can feel relaxed with no feeling of pressure. I’ve moved from Scotland to England and subsequently had to set up a new studio, so I feel I’ve only just got that exactly as I want it now.”
S13: Does your approach change from your work as Pefkin in comparison with, say, Burd Ellen?
GB: “Although I use the same set-up and instrumentation with Pefkin and Burd Ellen, my approach differs as with Burd Ellen, the music is always in service to the narrative of the song whereas with Pefkin it’s much more amorphous and about scene setting rather than any kind of narrative.”
PefkinS13: Do you work on music every day?
GB: “I work on something music-related every day, though not necessarily music. As a gig promoter I am usually booking gigs or endlessly promoting them online. I work on Pefkin music fairly infrequently but when inspiration strikes, I work really fast and can start and finish a new track in a day.”
S13: Over the last decade, the north has been responsible for so many great underground voices. How much do you think the immediate surroundings of Sheffield inform your work?
GB: “At the moment Sheffield hasn’t informed my recorded work as Pefkin, but living in the middle of England and being part (finally!) of a loose community of musicians has made an enormous impact on my work. I’ve been able to play live much more frequently and have conversations and jams with people that has certainly made me feel much less isolated than I did before. There are so many great DIY promoters (not just in the north) such as Weirdshire, adra, Ambient Leeds, Slow Wave Sound and not so much of a strictly segregated scene as I felt there was in Glasgow, so it feels more welcoming and open. I’m definitely more involved in a community than I’ve ever been.”
S13: Do you think the music you create reflects your personality, or do you see art as a form of escapism?
GB: “It’s not escapism for me but an extension of who I am. I feel most truly myself when I am recording / playing as Pefkin. I sometimes fantasise about being in a garage punk band or something, and doing something really out of character, but I’d probably just turn it into a big drone with bird song on it still!”
Unfurling is out now via Morc. Purchase from Bandcamp.
