Glåsbird 'Fenscapes' [LP]

This special limited edition release is in a run of 100 vinyl copies. It includes a printed front and rear sleeve with white inner card and a black 12" vinyl disc with printed labels. The album features artwork by Harry Towell and design by Andrew Heath.

Glåsbird is the work of British artist and composer Harry Towell, who is also owner of the Ambient record label Whitelabrecs. The project began in 2018 as Harry worked anonymously on a series of 8 albums, which was called ‘A Sonic Expedition’. This body of work saw him focus on a different remote geographic location for each location and he researched and explored places such as Greenland, Siberia and the Pacific Ocean, albeit from his home.

After the conclusion of this series, at the beginning of 2024 in a video interview with Kevin Press for his The Moderns blog, Harry announced that he was responsible for the music of Glåsbird. Having released a compilation album and booklet, curating music from A Sonic Expedition, Harry was quietly working on this next album; ‘Fenscapes’. He had virtually explored the world and immersed himself in epic landscapes and harsh conditions. By contrast, the landscapes around his sleepily Lincolnshire village were flat, minimal, and some might say quite unremarkable. He felt drawn to the South Lincolnshire fens around him and this became the theme for this album.

The Fens, or Fenlands, in eastern England are a low-lying, naturally marshy region historically rich in biodiversity. Over centuries, most of the area was drained to create flat, arable land supported by a complex system of drainage channels, man-made rivers, and pumping stations. This reclamation has led to the land sinking, necessitating higher dykes to prevent flooding. Covering nearly 1,500 square miles across parts of Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, and Suffolk, the Fens now serve as a highly fertile agricultural zone, producing significant quantities of grains and vegetables. Despite these changes, the area retains its unique ecological character, with a landscape shaped by its historical marshland origins.

Harry set out to visit and explore the sights and sounds of the six nearest fen roads to his home, including Rippingale, Dunsby, Haconby, Morton, Dyke and Bourne. Many of these consisted of long, straight, narrow roads, often worn and dusty. Some were dead ends. Either side of the roads were flat landscape views, stretching many miles out into expanses of open nothingness. Yet just as had been reported in history, they were full of wildlife with crickets, skylarks and owls were quietly thriving alongside a path less travelled. This album shares the results of Harry’s time spent walking in and appreciating these unsung local spaces, aiming to produce a work of art that might raise their cultural profile if only by a small amount.

For the artwork, Harry bought an 8 x 8 inch canvas, initially intending to paint a typical fenland landscape from one of the photos he’d taken during the visits. However, he had an idea to use leaves and flowers to rub onto the canvas – leaves, daisies and buttercups were used to depict the land whereas white and lilac flowers were used to paint the sky. The album marks the very first Whitelabrecs vinyl release, in a limited run of 100 copies. 

Written and produced by Harry Towell
Mastered by James Edward Armstrong
Cover art and photography by Harry Towell
Art and design by Andrew Heath