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• Limited edition cassette

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  Pro-dubbed cassette tape in plastic case and outer O-card box. Run of 150 copies. No repress. 30 artist copies available here.
  
  'Only Darkness Now' is available on cassette via Bloxham Tapes (31st July 2020), followed by a vinyl pressing via Cardinal Fuzz/Feeding Tube Records (Oct/Nov 2020)
  
  On this, the follow-up to her previous album ‘All Is Quiet At The Ancient Theatre’, Cotton returns with a selection of new works that bridge the everyday world of dust and grit with that of the churning stars above us, a sound both otherworldly and utterly down-to-earth.
  
  Cotton’s now recognisable instrumentation (including viola, chimes and Omnichord alongside percussion, harmonium, piano and voice) yields maximum impact here – and atop the cleansing drones perches Alison’s magisterial vocal, surveying the widescreen cosmic psychedelia unfurling below.
  
  Here we have Cotton’s take on Dorothy Carter's 'Shirt of Lace', liberated from its rustic roots, set free into the cosmos. It’s less a cover and much more an interpretation; a jumping-off point that’s faithful to the source material.
  
  We also see narrative threads continue to be woven as we return to the protagonist from Cotton’s song ‘The Bells of St Agnes’, as part two of her tale is revealed on the track ‘In Solitude I Will Fade Away’.
  
  This album of tone-poems bears witness to an artist convening with the complex strata of our world, both physical and spiritual. They leave... behind the thrum and rubble of our daily grind, lifting ever up and vibrating outwards into the many vast unknowns.
  
  .....
  
  released July 31, 2020
  
  All tracks written by Alison Cotton except Shirt of Lace (written by Dorothy Carter)
  
  Produced by Mark Nicholas
  Mixed by Mark Nicholas/Alison Cotton
  Behind the Spiderweb Gate first appeared as a track on the Longform Editions Bandcamp project
  
  Mastered by Dean Honer
  
  Design by Luke Drozd
  
  Includes unlimited streaming of Only Darkness Now via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

  Download available in 24-bit/44.1kHz.

  ... more   more

  Sold Out

• Limited edition heavy black vinyl

  Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

  • 
  Limited to 600 copied worldwide, here are 120 artist copies for sale. Released on Cardinal Fuzz (UK) and Feeding Tube (USA). For USA sales visit feedingtuberecords.com/releases/only-darkness-now/ for the most competitive USA shipping price.
  
  Release date 30 October
  Shipping date 30 October
  
  ALISON COTTON
  Only Darkness Now
  Cardinal Fuzz / Feeding Tube LP
  Artwork and Design by Luke Drozd
  
  Here is the second solo LP by the wonderful London-based singer/multi-instrumentalist Alison Cotton. Originally issued on cassette by the mighty Bloxham Tapes, just about everyone who heard Only Darkness Now suggested it might make for an excellent LP. And hey -- they were right.
  
  Ms. Cotton has a storied past performing with Saloon and The Eighteenth Day of May, and she still may be found doing likewise with The Left Outsides. And don't get me wrong -- those are all great bands, but solo work allows Alison to follow different and often darker paths through the... forest of sound. Of which this album is a perfect example.
  
  It begins with a sidelong instrumental track, “Behind the Spiderweb Gate,” during which Cotton displays her immense drone chops, organizing rich, thick layers of viola, Omnichord and voice into the soundtrack for a totally immersive trip. You could spend a whole year listening to this one.
  
  The second side starts with “In Solitude I Will Fade Away,” a collage of Alison's voice, twinned and then some. It's short and sweet with just a little drumming to move things along. “How My Heart Bled in Bleeding Heart Yard” brims with as much longing as it title suggests. It opens with a long instrumental passage, emphasizing the human pace of a harmonium's breath patterns, soon joined by a viola, also offering tones of a very human quality. All of this swells into a chorale of immense and mournful depth before being joined by Nico-like vocals that raise a wordless alarm. ”The Hill Was Hollow” is a short mystery for percussion and violin. Unravel at your own peril. Finally there is “Shirt of Lace.” This is a studio recording of one of Alison's regular live covers. The song is by the late Dorothy Carter (a visionary American musician whose work bridged experimental and medieval musics) and Cotton's version is a sheer blast -- her vocals curling and twisting high above a supple bed of key drones, string plucks and sliding arco passageways.
  
  Wow, what a great record. It's one of the the very few albums I can name that matches the cold fire of Nico's Marble Index and it does so without taking a single step that isn't purely Alison's own.
  
  Prepare your record shelf to deal with a miracle. Only Darkness Now.
  
  --Byron Coley
  
  .....
  
  All tracks written by Alison Cotton except Shirt of Lace (written by Dorothy Carter)
  
  Produced by Mark Nicholas
  Mixed by Mark Nicholas/Alison Cotton
  Behind the Spiderweb Gate first appeared as a track on the Longform Editions Bandcamp project
  
  Mastered by Dean Honer
  
  Includes unlimited streaming of Only Darkness Now via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

  Download available in 24-bit/44.1kHz.

  ... more   more

  Sold Out

• CD-R Edition in hand made replica sleeve featuring vinyl style CD-R

  Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

  • 
  More CDRs now back in stock!
  
  ALISON COTTON
  Only Darkness Now
  Cardinal Fuzz / Feeding Tube
  Artwork and Design by Luke Drozd
  
  Here is the second solo LP by the wonderful London-based singer/multi-instrumentalist Alison Cotton. Originally issued on cassette by the mighty Bloxham Tapes, just about everyone who heard Only Darkness Now suggested it might make for an excellent LP. And hey -- they were right.
  
  Ms. Cotton has a storied past performing with Saloon and The Eighteenth Day of May, and she still may be found doing likewise with The Left Outsides. And don't get me wrong -- those are all great bands, but solo work allows Alison to follow different and often darker paths through the forest of sound. Of which this album is a perfect example.
  
  It begins with a sidelong instrumental track, “Behind the Spiderweb Gate,” during which Cotton displays her immense drone chops, organizing rich, thick layers of viola, Omnichord and voice into the soundtrack for a totally immersive trip. You could spend a whole year listening... to this one.
  
  The second side starts with “In Solitude I Will Fade Away,” a collage of Alison's voice, twinned and then some. It's short and sweet with just a little drumming to move things along. “How My Heart Bled in Bleeding Heart Yard” brims with as much longing as it title suggests. It opens with a long instrumental passage, emphasizing the human pace of a harmonium's breath patterns, soon joined by a viola, also offering tones of a very human quality. All of this swells into a chorale of immense and mournful depth before being joined by Nico-like vocals that raise a wordless alarm. ”The Hill Was Hollow” is a short mystery for percussion and violin. Unravel at your own peril. Finally there is “Shirt of Lace.” This is a studio recording of one of Alison's regular live covers. The song is by the late Dorothy Carter (a visionary American musician whose work bridged experimental and medieval musics) and Cotton's version is a sheer blast -- her vocals curling and twisting high above a supple bed of key drones, string plucks and sliding arco passageways.
  
  Wow, what a great record. It's one of the the very few albums I can name that matches the cold fire of Nico's Marble Index and it does so without taking a single step that isn't purely Alison's own.
  
  Prepare your record shelf to deal with a miracle. Only Darkness Now.
  
  --Byron Coley
  
  
  
  All tracks written by Alison Cotton except Shirt of Lace (written by Dorothy Carter)
  
  Produced by Mark Nicholas
  Mixed by Mark Nicholas/Alison Cotton
  Behind the Spiderweb Gate first appeared as a track on the Longform Editions Bandcamp project
  
  Mastered by Dean Honer
  
  Includes unlimited streaming of Only Darkness Now via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

  Download available in 24-bit/44.1kHz.

  ... more   more

  Sold Out

• Silver Vinyl LP reissued by Friendly Recordings Released 5th November 2021

  Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

  • 
  With the steady gliding viola & the early introduction of choral forces, Only Darkness Now is a more alive, peopled landscape than its predecessor.
  
  The mood remains contemplative and concerns itself with medieval themes and vivid, poetic depictions of Gothic and historical netherworlds & torment – we see this in the extended album centrepiece 'Behind the Spiderweb Gate' and in 'In Solitude I Will Fade Away' along with bleeding hearts and a hollow hill.
  
  However, Only Darkness Now despite its title has a brighter expanse than the stillness achieved on her debut. Here Cotton envelops the listener with layers of viola, chimes & Omnichord - an electrical ghost-like medieval drone, alongside percussion, harmonium, piano & voice.
  
  The higher registers of her viola flicker and glide throughout like a dancing pagan ritual or ceremonial fire caught on wavering sepia tinged film. If it weren't for the disruption of last year ODN would've surely gained a wider audience, sitting comfortably alongside the new classical scores of Max Richter.
  
  This is a confident record; Cotton's voice washes in layers with occasional tense, sparse passages that position her compositions in early music, medieval and folk traditions away from the more populist neo-classicism. To illustrate her widening reach as a performer Cotton lifts album closer Shirt of Lace, by medieval revivalist and experimental dulcimer player Dorothy Carter, from a Celtic lament to cathedral like... grandeur.
  
  Originally a cassette release on Bloxham Tapes with a limited vinyl pressing by Cardinal Fuzz and Feeding Tube sold out almost instantly with little press. One expects this'll be the last chance to own Alison's masterful second album on the cusp of her next forward looking steps.
  
  Coloured vinyl & altered artwork by Luke Drozd
  
  Includes unlimited streaming of Only Darkness Now via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

  Download available in 24-bit/44.1kHz.

  ... more   more

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• Full Digital Discography

  12

  releases

  Get all 12 The Left Outsides releases available on Bandcamp and save 30%.

  Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Alison Cotton Live at Cafe Oto, London - 27 October 2021, The Girl I Left Behind Me, Are You Sure I Was There?, Only Darkness Now, A Place to Hide, Behind the Spider Web Gate, All Is Quiet At The Ancient Theatre, All That Remains, and 4 more.

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