Available to listen to and buy at Bandcamp
Release date: 05 May 2026
Format: digital download. Artwork and typography by Landschaft.
Tracing the Shores of the Zechstein Sea:
This work is part of my geology series, specifically the geology of the Nottinghamshire / Derbyshire border, counties of England; the ground beneath my feet.
In Permian times, 250 million years ago the Zechstein Sea sat near the equator and spanned much of present day Central Europe from from the East of Poland to the English Midlands. The sea was an inland formation subject to cycles of drying, mineral salt deposition and reef formation. As the Pangea continent rifted, so the Zechstein locality migrated, the northernmost section migrated away from the equator. A well as contribuling to the topography and the deposited landscape forms, the evaporite deposits have and continue to form economically important resources: potash salts used in fertiliser manufacture among them and are impenetrable cap rocks forming seal trapping petro-chemicals.
The margins of the Zechstein. My inspiration for these two works derived from a favourite walk along the disused Nottingham Victoria to Derby Friargate rail-bed, a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) where the limestone beds formed in the Permian are clearly visible in the deep cuttings near Watnall at Kimberley Railway Cutting, grid ref SK 507 454. I walked this route on 02 May 2026 and for the first time in many years heard a skylark ascent in full song. THe notion of walking the Zechstine shores sat well with these pieces that I have been working into a coherent soundscape for some time. The longer title piece and a short reprise I think reflect my mood feelings along my walk as I stood listening to the brook that has occupied the railbed as it winds it's way to the Leen, the waters moving onward to the Trent and the North Sea.
My interest was further stimulated by a read of the Geological Survey of Great Britain publication 'Geology of the County North of Derby', HMSO 1979: ISBN 0 11 884119 X. Few will have read this dusty tome, and my dedication here is to it's authors and their predecessor researchers who have piece together a fascinating view of the land of my heart (quoting DH Lawrence - who also traversed the Zechstein shores).