Biography
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Members
- Alan Trench
Cunnan was a British folk band that was a side project involving members of Orchis and comprised Alan Trench, Tracy Jeffery, and Stephen Robinson.
Trench was a founder of World Serpent Distribution (Antony And The Johnsons, Coil, Current 93, Death In June, Sol Invictus, The Moon Lay Hidden Beneath A Cloud, Nurse With Wound etc) and a member of Orchis, Temple Music and Twelve Thousand Days (with Martyn Bates). Jeffery was one of the voices of Orchis and contributed vocals to New York based avant-electronica project SQE (along with Kris Force of Amber Asylum and Tony Wakeford of Sol Invictus). Robinson played bass in the first incarnation of The Beloved, and then in a number of other bands (Patrick, Bug) before joining Temple Music, while Christopher Patinios is a percussionist with a background in DJing. Bringing these disparate backgrounds together has resulted in timeless music of startling originality that conjures otherworldly moods and atmospheres; music that is experimental but also song based.
When ORCHIS was temporarily on hold, and with Temple Music Volume One released, Trench and Robinson started performing live as Temple Music, with Patinios being asked to join after a performance at the 2004 Small World Festival. After performing (as Seven Voyages) the live soundtrack to the film HAXAN with Tracy Jeffery and Martyn Bates (Eyeless In Gaza) in 2005, Temple Music played a number of concerts with Tracy, showcasing both Orchis and traditional songs as part of an improvisational structure. These worked so well that Alan approached Woven Wheat Whispers (who had re-released the first Twelve Thousand Days albums and a new ORCHIS e.p.), who commissioned an album. More song-based than Temple Music the new project was named CUNNAN and aimed to incorporate traditional folk structures into noise/drone improvisation, tinged with Steve’s pop sensibility. The result was Foxfire And Aconite; six varied pieces that melt in your mind and not in your hand.
Cunnan take the essence of the folk tradition and transmute it through the juxtaposition of traditional instrumentation and songcraft with electronica and improvisation. Their music has diverse roots in many soils - the European Dark/Apocalyptic Folk scene, the US Weird Folk scene and experimental/avant-garde drone music; and blends unexpected elements from these esoteric fields into beautiful and eerie dreamscapes that are redolent of early 70s folkadelica - Moths, Spriguns, Trees, Mellow Candle, Oberon, Dr Strangely Strange, Comus, Dulcimer - being reference points.
They released one album, "Foxfire and Aconite".
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