Soundcarriers’ Adam Cann on White Noise – An Electric Storm 
Soundcarriers have long been a favorite around here — swirling psych-pop artisans with a beating Radiophonic heart. Somewhere between Joe Byrd and Broadcast, the band finds a sound that’s instantly engaging — familiar yet foreign, saturated and psychedelic. They create worlds that last for four minutes and then disappear into the ether. As they embark upon their latest album, I asked songwriter Adam Cann from the band to dive into a pick for the Hidden Gems series. Check out Adam’s exploration of ‘60s sound art innovators White Noise.
“The album I have chosen is An Electric Storm by White Noise, recorded in1968. I’m not sure exactly how I came to listen to this album first but I remember it was one of the key albums that me and a bunch of friends used to listen to when hanging out and smoking in the 90s. We were very much into a very eclectic range of music, basically anything that wasn’t Britpop. All kinds of amazing stuff was being reissued at the time and our hometown of Nottingham had some great record shops including the much missed Selectadisc where you could find anything you could want. It was particularly good on 60s psychedelia, electronica, exotica and rare jazz, funk and library compilations so these were some of the areas we gravitated too at the time. Everything from Cymande to Arthur lyman to Burt Bacarach via Kraftwerk and Can.”
“An Electric Storm is an electronic and orchestral collage mainly produced/written by Delia Derbyshire of Radiophonic workshop fame and composer David Vorhaus. Originally intended to be a couple of singles, it was expanded into an album on the request of Island records. I feel it’s well respected but probably still not generally well known. It’s groundbreaking, but in a typically British under-assuming way, which gives it a lot of its charm. It’s like they were just unwinding and having a bit of fun after a hard day, creating strange and sometimes terrifying sounds for BBC children’s shows. The album used all the latest electronic cut up techniques and equipment and has the influence of European composers like Stockhausen, but for me, what I always liked about the album was how these textures and effects were integrated into the compositions. It took a year to produce only four tracks and you can see why as it’s really tightly arranged around the songs which must have been painstaking work in pre-computer editing days. Some songs are quirky, almost Syd Barret-like, with shifting time signatures, strange phrasing and whimsical lyrics. Others have a more European jazz feel or the simplicity of English folk songs which contrasts with the stark, hypnotic electronic effects.”
“The album has that freshness of sound and ideas that jump out at you when you put it on. I think this is why it was so musically inspiring for me and my friends. The DIY recording methods and approach to instrumentation (it was recorded in a flat in Camden, although they probably had access to some of the best equipment via the BBC) made it seem something achievable or something that you can use and take in your own direction. And also a way of getting away from traditional acoustic band setups and hierarchies.”
“I think another reason it made such an impact was the mystique. In pre-internet days a lot of these records we were into had no context as there was very little information beyond credits or sleeve notes and almost seemed like they could be contemporary. I had no idea who any of these people were or why/how the record was made which made it all the more mysterious. I think that definitely added to the intensity of the impact (that and possibly the smoking). For a long time I thought White Noise was the title of the album, not the group! In a way you just had to go on the ‘aura’ of a record and An Electric Storm had that in spades. So in a lot of senses the record is a hidden gem and definitely had an influence on The Soundcarriers’ music. I’ll even go so far as to say we ripped off one of their titles removing the love from Love Without Sound on our first LP. It was a tribute!
It’s easy to see that the spirit of White Noise is alive in Soundcarriers’ music. The record is one of those that you hear talked about in deep collectors’ circles, but it’s also benefited from several reissues, so, thankfully, while obscure, it’s not prohibitively hard to find. There’s even a reissue from this year by Proper Records and its worth diving into it in any format for all the reasons that Adam lists. The Soundcarriers’ latest, Through Other Reflections, is out this week, August 16th, on their own Phosphonic Records.
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