Carve the Runes

Checking my email first thing I saw an email from Erland Cooper to say this evening's showing of "Carve the Runes" was free for all. A plan for the day was formed. We were a little early so joined the queue outside Rough Trade East in the rain, watching folk run here and there for shelter and bracing the umbrella against the squalls that blasted down the alley. The doorman was apologetic about not letting anyone in before the allocated time. We clung on. It felt that Erland had brought some Orcadian weather with him (though it was probably lovely in the Orkney Islands while we were being battered).

The door opened and we dripped into the record shop, taking seats in front of the stage to watch the film that preceded the concert in June (the one we missed because a ferry strike delayed our journey home from holiday). Afterwards, there was an insightful Q&A with filmmaker Christian Cargill and Erland Cooper. 

Erland composed and recorded the album, copied it onto tape, deleted the digital files, and buried this tape (the only recording) in Orkney with the score, a violin and a letter (all unprotected) to become one with the earth. He released clues as to where the tape could be found. Eventually, an Orcadian couple found it. After some amount of cleaning and drying out, the end of the film shows Erland playing the tape not knowing if anything would be left. There is no sound for us, the viewers, or the filmmaker (he wore ear buds plus noise-cancelling headphones as it was Erland's moment). A punch in the air from Erland – there's something on the tape! We see his emotions as he listens. At one point he sheds a tear. In answer to an audience member's question: "Was the album a response to our years during COVID?", we find out that the tear was in reaction to two emotions. In the score, he'd included a two-minute silence in remembrance of the pandemic but as he'd forgotten he'd done that, the tear was both a sadness in memory of that time and a relief that the album hadn't been destroyed by its burial after the first recordings – the music started again!

Listen to some of Carve The Runes here

It was super to see the landscape of Orkney, hear the enthusiasm behind the album and Erland's teasing of the record executives. Before the big concert reveal in June, the execs didn't know if the album had survived its burial. Erland invited them to listen to the tape a month before the concert... there was a lot of white noise then the faded sounds of "Dancing Queen" by ABBA. Nope, the record execs had to wait until the big reveal at the Barbican along with everyone else. Love it!