Craven Faults

I can't quite remember how I first came across Craven Faults. Perhaps it was in Electronic Sound magazine or on Bandcamp, I don't suppose it matters. I do know that it was Sunday 18th August 2018 when I first played the track 'Tenter Ground' on my radio show.

Over the last five years, I've followed the progress of this anonymous character, buying their slowly evolving music, the current sum total of which you can see here.

Apart from the music, there has been a paucity of information: black and white photos of the North Yorkshire landscape are a recurring feature, as are the limited edition t-shirts, each identical in style, differing only in their colour schemes. (Of the seven, I have six; I didn't fancy the yellow lettering. I am a discerning fanatic.)

And then, amazingly and out of the blue, a live show was announced, to take place at Thwaite Watermill. It sold out in two minutes (fortunately for me, the Minx worked her magic and obtained tickets for us.) Another matinée show was added, which promptly sold out, then another show for the following day, and then another matinée. What a lovely way for them to discover their devotion of their fanbase!

And so it was that we drove across to Leeds, this evening. I took today's Blip in the Mill's car park, loosely in the style of Craven Faults, perhaps accurately predicting the request for 'No photography' in the actual gig.

The Mill itself is an interesting place, which we'll probably come back to at some point, but this evening the courtyard was full of mostly late middle-aged men, sipping canned beer from an improvised bar, until we were permitted to enter the small concert space.

My tiny hope that the driving force behind Craven Faults would be a modern day Delia Derbyshire were dashed as a diffident chap, possibly in his sixties, took to the tiny stage, where his equipment was set up. As the Minx pointed out, it looked like he'd recreated the interior of his shed, which was a nice image.

As to the music: well, as you can see from my Extra*, Craven Faults perform music using a modular set up. I won't test your commitment to reading this by describing how it all works, but there are lots of sounds and melodies all being generated at once, which are slowly faded in and out using the mixing desk, with our chap occasionally getting up to tweak a module or re-patch a cable.

Performance-wise, then, it wasn't up there with Suzanne Ciani or Polypores, but it was very enjoyable. It's possible to immerse yourself in the slowly mutating pieces and electronic sounds. I'm pleased to say that the Minx - who has a very catholic but considered taste in music - enjoyed the show, too.

After an hour, the music came to an end, the man who is Craven Faults turned and gave a shy nod and raised a hand to the crowd, and that was that. It was a perfectly appropriate show, and I think pretty much every one of the perhaps two hundred people in the room would have agreed.

*photos were allowed after the set.