Two sculptures by Shaikha Al Mazrou reference local rock engravings in a deep brick orange resin, while two framed diptychs by Dana Awartani continue the heritage narrative through intricate traditional patterns inspired by aerial views of AlUla's famous heritage sites. Safar's artworks are in dialogue with AlUla's unique physical and cultural landscape. Their paintings all mirror the same underlying square grid pattern (the basis of textile techniques such as Al Sadu weaving: a new addition to UNESCO's List of Intangible Cultural Heritage) but feature different patterns that originate from the varied traditional crafts that span the region. In a piece entitled 'Our Living Tradition', artisans from Madrasat Addeera investigate the Order of Nature as a design tool and how language is intrinsic to traditional arts and cultures. Speaking to Arts AlUla's vision for a new - and local - creative community, works by the 10 Saudi artists and 6 regional artists sit alongside those by artisans from Madrasat Addeera, the first Art and Design Center in AlUla which offers craft programmes for local artisans. David A Jaycock also releases a gorgeously simple solo album, Murder, and the Birds (Triassic Tusk), exploring the songs of Lancashire and beyond through double-tracked vocals, guitars and synthesisers.The collection was conceived by The Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) and facilitated by Capsule Arts, presenting work by significant Saudi and international artists such as Dana Awartani, Sh aikha Al Mazrou and Zahrah Al Ghamdi(all of whom have a longstanding relationship with Arts AlUla) as well as emerging artists such as Stephanie Neville, Sandrah Boutros and Nidanin Woodwork. Shades of west African kora-playing ripple through compositions influenced by Welsh bardic rituals. Rhodri Davies’ Telyn Rawn (Amgen) is a much more ancient proposition, but no less inventive: he had a medieval Welsh harp reconstructed for the album, after all. Their choices of songs can be brilliant – A Tree Must Stand in the Earth is particularly jolting – but an overreliance on Auto-Tune and electronics often swamps their intentions. Stick in the Wheel’s Hold Fast (From Here) sees the ever-ambitious Nicola Kearey and Ian Carter rallying to include working-class, urban and vulnerable voices in the folk canon. It’ll be fascinating to hear what happens with the next releases, as the darker seasons settle in. Gathercole’s voice is featherlight and meaningful, recalling Vashti Bunyan and late 60s private-press folk, tethering the listener to every syllable. Interruption uses a processed piano to pointedly bury a speech about the removal of common land from its people. No Peace mixes birdsong, thunderstorms and scrawnily plucked ukuleles to convey unease. Post-rock and ambient fans will relish the shape-shifting textures, which make deeper points, too. Echoing rain blends with shuddering drones and lyrics about “dripping dew” on Section XVII Weather Proverbs, which uses text from an early 20th-century song collector, Ella May Leather. The whirring of a passing plane and wind blowing through trees affords a strange air of shimmering, early summer lust to opening folk ballad Searching for Lambs. Gathercole and Waters live and record rurally in their shed-based home studio, The Radar Station this project is all about the chance encounters and sharp details of sounds that cut through. Now arrives the first of four seasonal albums, with accompanying postcard liner notes and artwork, exploring the band’s relationship to the land around them in the Covid-19 pandemic.
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