The Magnetic North

In early 2011, a dream brought Erland Cooper the image of Betty Corrigall, an abandoned Orkney resident left pregnant outside marriage who took her own life in the late 1770s. The vision prompted him to assemble the Magnetic North by gathering Erland & the Carnival bandmate Simon Tong (the Verve, the Good, the Bad and the Queen) and Irish singer/songwriter Hannah Peel for a project devoted to the islands of Cooper’s upbringing. The trio relocated to Stromness, where they tracked the album inside Cooper’s parents’ house while absorbing the region’s folk-music traditions, poetic heritage, and stark yet striking terrain. The finished Orkney: Symphony of the Magnetic North appeared on Full Time Hobby in 2012.

Once the album and its tours proved successful, the three returned to the studio in 2015 after each had pursued separate work. Peel proposed turning attention to Skelmersdale, the Lancashire town where Tong had grown up. Founded in 1961 during the second wave of postwar British housing development, the planned community fell into decline during the 1980s until the Transcendental Meditation movement established its base there, drawing families—including Tong’s—from across the country to share its message of peace and love. After discarding large amounts of recorded material, the group began again and completed Prospect of Skelmersdale. Once more guided by local surroundings and the Transcendental Meditation movement, the record leaned into the muted palette of working-class suburban Britain, calling to mind Ken Loach’s Kes and Mike Leigh’s kitchen-sink dramas. It was issued at the start of 2016.