Part 2 - birds filled with their flesh

The moment we had been dreading and hoping for in equal measure arrived.  There upon the floor under the letter box sat the envelope, marked with the  symbol of English Heretic.  'Sacred Geography of British Cinema', a booklet and CD waited for me.  The CD soon put on play, finger shaking as I hesitantly pressed the button.  Spurting, whirling synthisizers, modern yet ancient circled the room as intoned speech cut through the air... 

'Filled with authentic detail and photographs of piercing detail, never has England looked so beautiful and been so violent' ....

The landscape explorers of English Heretic had been down to Kersey in Suffolk, an authentic medieval village looking at the impact of filming the witch hangings there for Witchfinder General.  Could the very landscape have been infected?   Was the shallowness of film making a conduit for forces unknowable?  After all one of the foremen in the Salem Witch Trials in the formative USA was from Kersey....

With a variety of musicanssuch as controversial feminist-pagan Hecate Redgrave, real or imagined they sought to capture and explore the ancient feelings of such a place.  Creating a new music that combines the ancient and modern into strange new curves.  Their searches revealed not only the film but the still continuing, so called arcane 'Broom Seers', the folk magic of the then illiterate populace dating back hundreds of years.  Using the broom as a ritual symbol for wiping away the sins and injustices.  Weaving this continuum in ceremonies unseen into their explorations this became more than music as media, it became a journey into places where the ancient and modern, alive and ethereal are broken down.

The England of Motoways and cities means nothing here, this village, this damned place carries forward the ancient forces locked into the land.  English Heretic themselves do not know what they are involved in, lifting the lid but not knowing what is inside.   Delving in place names, symbology and spiritual transendence they draw together Calvary, the romantic revivalism of Pan, ancient England and the persecution of witches. During their visit to the Bell Inn located in Kersey they attended a lecture about reviving revelry and phallic worship by Dr Alain Champagne.  They also met Fred Whiting, traditional musician and puppeteer of the 'jig dancers' puppets.  These curious, unsettling puppets remind us of the terrifying story 'The Dollmaker'.  What infernal power do they possess dancing their unhuman jigs by the moon?

Who knows how much of this happened?  Is it literal or an inversion of Wicker Man as inspiration?   Do the Broom Seers really exist?  It is best to wonder this from the comfort of your armchair with a strong drink and lamp firmly on.   But can the mere process of listening draw us in?  Are we complicit in this extraordinary journey into the morning of cock crow?  At Britain's heart the ancient has not been lost but is woven quietly into the fabric of the now, this has always been known of the Celtic parts of the Isles, but in the south, the midlands, the north of Sedayne the villages carry forward traditions of primative origin.  In the May Day festivity on Clifton Green here tomorrow, in the Broom Seers, in the arcane place names and signs, the forgotten villages.  Hail and hearty England, a sly knowing grin on the lips of every plough boy.

"Visualise the witch's ragged body, swaying on the creaking gallows before you, like some king of pagan pendulum'  Awaking the Galley Trot, an East England demon dog, purported haunter of graveyards and gallows".  

Be thankful it is they not us who follow this quest and be careful not to stray too far off those b-roads......

(editor's note:  we undertook extensive, some would say foolhardy research into finding Dr Alain Champagne, Hecate Redgrave and others mentioned.  No physical confirmation of existence could be provided and we were gently advised not to go too far by no less than distinguished professor of Arcane and Arcadic Studies, Dr Julian Karswell.  That they exist in some form we are sure, other than that we dare not say) 

Part 1 - The worm conquers all in the end..

We had entered into tentative email contact with the seemingly sinister people at this site called 'English Heretic'.   Encouraged by the eerie wyrd folk artist Xenis Emputae Travelling Band as we explored the arcane in British folk music we had been pointed towards these as potentially relevant.  So we had emailed and this only raised more questions but then soon through the post arrived a parcel...

In a mixture of intrepidation and puzzlement the parcel was opened to find a black box with the Blicking Pyramid shown on the cover and 'The English Heretic Collection' emblazoned boldly.  Prizing open the box we found a book and compact disc..  Soon the compact disc was inserted and we settled down to read, hands slightly shaking as into the air slowly seeped a creepy soundscape combining queasy electronics, spoken word samples, occasional folk guitar and a nervous voice seemingly taking part in some kind of psychic investigation.  What could it mean?  More importantly, did we want to know?

The beautifully prepared book explores the young director of such bleak horror films as 'The Sorcerers' and 'Witchfinder General', Michael Reeves who killed himself a year after making the later film.  He is buried at Ipswich Crematorium and the exploration centred around the malign influence of locations used in the filming and the possible breaking down of reality to allow nefarious influences to work upon his mind.  The music using extracts from films of the mid-late British horror era made at the locations Reeves used invokes a literal air of dread, of H.P. Lovecraft-ian visions of the 'other' reaching into our world.    We read about and hear extracts from a recent visit to the place where Reeves was cremated and a seeping feeling of unnatural cold that was felt.

As the unsettling music pervades the air filling the room with a suspended feeling of doom questions start to form, is all this meant literally?  Does the producer of the work really believe in suggestions of things outside our known world influencing the mind?  I read, re-read and though hard, there is no implication of such physical intrusion?  Only endless questions of their own. The blackest of humour sat in the background, a teasing, opening of the senses...

As a project they seek to define places of our landscape in a new way, to preserve not only the known stone circles and abbeys, but also the more sinister places of psychc imprint.  Do they really mean it?  Is significance really attached to these places?  Who can tell, only the nagging feeling sat in the pit of your stomach reveals your own feelings on the subject.

Whether by intent or otherwise, it is though a powerful and evocative combination of imagery, music, film and writing.  An artistic montage of someone moving beyond an idea into practice, taking them to places beyond their original anticipation.  Something unique, arcane and bringing the quietly forgotten aspects of our English past back to haunt our dreams.   We are promised a next volume looking at the treatment of alleged witches in the seventeenth century with musicians recording in the place of their mistreatment and often eventual death.  Somehow.. through methods subtle, through our communications we have become involved....

The English Heretic Part 1 booklet and CD contained in the series box is now available from their web site.  The booklet is a high quality A5 exploration of the music, investigations, background and theories resulting from the first investigation.  The CD has 15 minutes of music combining electronic pieces with more folk oriented ones and a sample piece from Part 2.

Click here to hear a streaming extract from Disc 1 'Parentalia'.

The English Heretic Part 2 booklet and CD for storage in the series box is now available from their web site.  The booklet continues the exploration of Michael Reeves in part 1 to look at the impact of film Witchfinder General on the ancient village of Kersey in Surrey.  The CD has 40 minutes of music combining electronics, folk song, spoken word, informal ceremonies and electronic voice phenomena.

Click here to hear a streaming extract from Disc 2 'Cults of the Upright Men'.