‘Good Luck From Barnard Castle’ by The March Afternoons | Album Premiere
Exclusive album premiere of ‘Good Luck From Barnard Castle’ by mysterious project The March Afternoons, out today via Unfocused Love Records.
The March Afternoons aren’t real. They come from Barnard Castle, a made-up town in the north of England. It was invented in 1093 by the Normans who built some houses and a fortress there to cement their lie, which then took such a strong hold in the imagination of the local population that they still believe it now, almost a millennium later. More recently Barnard Castle became the first button in the undoing of Dominic Cummings, who went there during his own COVID lockdown to see if he could see, but he was seen. The irony of the architect of the great Brexit lie being tripped up by an ancient French lie was not lost on Dominic. It was The March Afternoons who shopped him.
‘Good Luck From Barnard Castle’ started life in 2012, but then lay abandoned for years until The March Afternoons came back and finished it last year in a much shorter (and better) form to what was originally intended. It was meant to be one long uninterrupted audio-visual piece of album-length art. And then they started making it, and it was long and it was difficult and it turned out that making the videos was the worst bit. So they stopped. But not before the first couple of tracks were finished.
The latest album will be available to stream online via the usual subscription services and for free on Bandcamp. The band had 50 cassette tapes made, which you can’t buy. Here’s how you might get one:
Do one good thing that doesn’t involve money, for anyone that isn’t you
Make a donation of any amount to the Marketstall Recording studio’s Pay-What-You-Can fund. Even if all you can spare is £1 – it’s the gesture that’s important.
Tell your friends you like this record – post something nice about it and tag your friends & us in your post
Then email us at themarchafternoons@gmail.com with the postal address you want your tape sent to
It’s the first of three records which they’ll release in 2023, before disappearing completely.
Even though they hate them, they’ve made a music video to accompany the first two tracks of the record, which you can view here:
The mysterious artist behind this project invented this fake band to hide himself behind in order to get rid of a bunch of songs he made by accident over the last 15 years, and when all three records of those songs have been released this year, the project will disappear.
“The songs are better than me, and now they exist beyond, outside and apart from me, I’m no longer necessary to them. That’s the point of putting them into the world – I don’t want them anymore. They’re yours now. Take them in or cast them aside as you wish.”
The March Afternoons Facebook / Instagram / Bandcamp / YouTube
Unfocused Love Records Facebook / Instagram / Bandcamp
