Noctorum

Noctorum arose from a partnership between Marty Willson-Piper, formerly the guitarist for the Church, and producer-engineer Dare Mason. Emerging in the first years of the 2000s, the project has yielded several expansive baroque pop and space rock albums, among them Offer the Light in 2006, Honey Mink Forever in 2011, and The Afterlife in 2019.

The pair, longtime friends, established the group in England during 2002. Having grown up together in the borough of Wirral near Liverpool, Willson-Piper and Mason had long held a shared enthusiasm for 1960s psych-rock, 1970s glam rock, space rock, and assorted other experimental pop forms. Following secondary school, Willson-Piper relocated to Australia, where he logged more than three decades as a central figure in the noted alt-rock band the Church while also collaborating with acts such as All About Eve and the Swedish prog outfit Anekdoten. Mason, by contrast, stayed in England, forging a distinguished path as an engineer and producer at the celebrated Townhouse Studios in London and later freelancing with figures including Paul McCartney, Tina Turner, and Ravi Shankar, in addition to the Church, Placebo, the Wedding Present, and further artists.

The two maintained contact through the ensuing period, and in 2002 they initiated joint musical work at Mason’s studio in Penzance, Cornwall. Taking the name Noctorum from a locality close to their upbringing, they released a first album, Sparks Lane, in 2003. Three years afterward came Offer the Light, with Honey Mink Forever appearing in 2011. Their fourth joint effort, The Afterlife, surfaced in 2019.