Description:

Cobalt Chapel release Orange Synthetic, the follow-up to their much lauded self-titled debut album and its companion piece Variants. Orange Synthetic is an exploration of the epic county they call home, Yorkshire. Written during this tumultuous turn of the decade, it is inspired by the humanity, anecdotes and folklore of the region, and the surrounding landscape.The album delves into stories which exist at the edge of history and myth: the drowning of a village under Lake Semerwater, the mystery of the lost geodesic domes of RAF Fylingdales, the fate of John Hotham of Hull, beheaded for treason during the English Civil War, a psychedelic folk song about an infamous Cragg Vale farmer killed in a fight over a flock of sheep, the cry of Skylarks over Erringden Moor.The albums name stems from a line in the title track, telling the story of the fateful Yorkshire Folk, Blues & Jazz Festival in Krumlin, fifty years ago. Hit by a violent storm, it resulted in the devastation of the site, near-deaths from exposure and the promoter being found wandering the moors, days later.Cobalt Chapels atmospheric style remains distinctively their own, through Cecilia Fages crisp English vocals and choral arrangements, and Jarrod Goslings use of organs such as the Vox Continental, Philicorda, and the USSR-era Elektronika Organ. These are the foundations of their rich, experimental yet melodic sound, and this album sees them expand on it with the addition of mandolin, guitars, and drawing on Cecilias classical background, with clarinets and recorders.