Sidings by Craven Faults

The devil’s in the details. It always was and it always will be. It’s there for those who seek it out.

The journey on Sidings isn’t made with people in mind. It begins in an isolated community which has built up around one of the great engineering projects of its age. The work is slow and perilous - thousands of men at the mercy of the elements. The ground is frozen or flooded for months on end, while red kites circle overhead. 14 tunnels and 22 viaducts to open up the north. The on-beat and the off-beat interchange. Recorded in 1969, Olympic Studios - a precursor to the ships we built.

We walk north east in search of a distance marker. When it first comes into view, it looks similar to where we commenced our journey on Bounds. The open moorland gives it away. This particular trip will take considerably longer, by foot and packhorse, before the land and power is redistributed by order of parliament. Just shy of fifteen minutes between 1952 and 1964 – from J&M Studio, New Orleans to the San Francisco Tape Music Centre. Rapid progress and consistently fertile ground.

As the sun rises, we make our way by road to a junction. There is a livestock market and an inn for travellers. It’s important to make the journey before the seasons change and this area becomes inaccessible. An idea almost lost in the mists of time - a West German prototype unearthed twelve years later. A little way due south, we arrive at another crossroads. We find a maestro labouring over his masterwork – Gold Star Studios, United Western Recorders, Columbia Studios and Capitol Studios. October 3rd, 1966 to November 20th, 1968. Inspired by the story of another community building the railways. The circle is complete and encompasses continents.

We continue south, hitching a ride on a finely turned out cart. We help to unload the churns onto the platform and wait for the train to arrive. Our cargo will head east before switching tracks to be delivered into urban areas. Hundreds of thousands of gallons per year. The Black Ark, 1977.

From there we head north and west a little way, and find ourselves near to where we began. Another temporary settlement built up along the line, where each chord occupies its own space. Wally Heider in 1967 and finished off at home a year later. Spikes driven into the frozen ground and the Kirkstall Forge hammer in the dead of night. Finding order in the chaos.

We strike a deal with the local farm and walk a thousand heads of cattle to market. The ground is heavy and it’s slow going - it will take the best part of a week. We stop to graze at Suma Recording Studio, 1978 and then Sunwest, 1969. We reach the end of our journey via a final rest stop - an enclosed field on the moor we hovered over on Standers. 1858. An outgrown coda and proof that two chords will suffice. Three is a luxury. A radio enthusiast intercepts government secrets - Cargo Studios, 1980.

Half-remembered journeys across post-industrial Yorkshire.

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