hauntologist chats up proto-hauntologist / Foxxy gentlemen / ghost writings / the umtimeliche

Jim Jupp of Ghost Box recently chatted with Mike Sandison of Boards of Canada for this French monthly magazine Magic, Revue Pop Moderne. The nature of Time came up as a topic, with Jupp reiterating GB's interest in what they've variously called "Eternalism" or "The All at Once".





GHOST BOX: As a group of artists we are often asked about nostalgia and memory, but for us BoC’s notion of “the past inside the present” has been a more important motivator than straightforward re-enactment of music from our childhood. To my mind, BoC’s music suggests a world where time has no existence at all and contemporary sounds and references seem no more or less important than ones from the past or future. It certainly gives your records lasting and timeless appeal far beyond simple nostalgia, but is this something you recognize in your work yourselves and how far is it part of a deliberate process?

BOARDS OF CANADA: Absolutely yes, I think you put it really well there, as it’s never been our aim to just accurately ape something from the past. I don’t think there would be much point in doing that. We’re trying to take something stylistically recognizable from the past as a starting point and then to envisage where that style would have gone if it had been allowed to develop further, if you imagine a parallel reality where music went down a different route. So I suppose you do hear anachronistic and contemporary things sitting side by side in our music.

 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Anachronistic and contemporary side by side....  well, how's about this new Ghost Box EP Empty Avenues, a collaboration between John Foxx and the Belbury Circle (Jim Jupp + Jon Brooks) 

(Ruddy good, it is too -- especially the tunes "Almost There" and "Suit". Proper pop songs)

This invocation perfectly timed (in a time out of joint way) for the approaching publication of Mark 'Foxxy Gentleman' Fisher's Ghosts of My Life: Writings on Depression, Hauntology and Lost Futures on Zer0 Books. An extract from which collection, titled "The Slow Cancellation of the Future", can be checked out here at The Quietus.