Ian Elms
Good Night
Dark Entries
/
2023
LP
23.99
DE 299
Incl. postcard
Incl. VAT plus shipping / Orders from outside the EU are exempt from VAT
Tracklist
1The Street Enters The House
2Overthere Comes Overhere
3A Tunnel With Curves
4Surrounded By Trees
5A Light Moves Across Curtains
6Weightless
7No Longer
8Running In The Dark
9Moving In The Rain
10On A Beach Lost At Sea
11The End Of The Road
12And Fall Asleep
13An Empty Corridor
14Outwards And Across
15Goodnight

Ian Elms’s cult isolationist synth masterpiece "Good Night" returns via Dark Entries. Originally released in 1982, "Good Night" blends Berlin school minimalism and BBC Radiophonic weirdness with the aesthetics of then-nascent DIY punk electronics throughout its fifteen short tracks.

According to Elms, these pieces were composed in two broad but interrelated modes: pieces with voice and synthesizer, which are obliquely narrative, and instrumental synthesizer pieces that aspire to capture fleeting emotions. Ian met with producer David Hoser at Octopus Studios and they began constructing pieces using a Polymoog Keyboard 280a, sampled drum tracks, and Elms’s synthesizer. On "The Street Enters the House", live drums lurch along with skeletal motifs while Elms’s elliptical lyrics evoke domestic discontent. “A Light Moves Across Curtains” features metronomic pummeling and icy strings buttressing the scant cryptic lines from Elms. Instrumental gems like "Goodnight" and "Surrounded by Trees" are built around detuned riffs in round-like structure, both drifting and static like the motion of waves. With original pressings fetching three digits – if you can even find a copy – this reissue is essential listening for fans of John Bender, Transparent Illusion, and the early 80’s DIY cassette scene.

Each copy of "Good Night" comes with a postcard featuring a photograph and notes by Elms. "This record is intended for anyone who by accident or design spends most of their time alone (whether in the body or in the mind)". – Ian Elms.