9.29°C Kevin Pearce returns with a new album, Matthew Hopkins and The Wormhole, the follow-up to his 2011 debut Pocket Handkerchief Lane.
This latest release is a dark, haunting collection inspired by the flat, grey-skied landscapes of pastoral Essex villages such as Mistley and Manningtree — home to Pearce and, historically, to Matthew Hopkins, the infamous Witchfinder General.
The album unfolds in two acts.
Act I presents the original recordings by Pearce and his Essex musical collaborators.
Act II offers an electronic reinterpretation of the same material by Dean Honer (I Monster, The Human League, Add N to X).
The concept was conceived over drinks in a Mistley pub once owned by Hopkins, where Pearce and Honer devised the idea of creating a futuristic mirror to the Arcadian acoustic record — blending pastoral folk textures with electronic atmospheres.
The result is described as a journey through a wormhole to a parallel dimension.
The album is released on 22 July 2013. Audiences can hear the material live ahead of release at Colchester Arts Centre on Wednesday 10 April.
Further information is available at www.kevinpearcemusic.com.
