Textile Ranch - Ombilical (2020)

Textile Ranch (named after a 1985 instrumental by Felt) is the unfeathered nom-de-plume Second Language founder, Glen Johnson, invariably reserves for his more playful experiments with electronic music. The 2L label itself was launched back in 2009 with a crowd-funded Textile Ranch release, ‘Tombola’ but the name itself harks back to 2000, when Static Caravan released the clear vinyl 7”, ‘Huit Oiseaux Bruns Dans La Nuit Blanche (Modèle Réduit).’ Further lowkey releases peppered the next few years on the since-retired independents, Audraglint, Lykill, Very Friendly and Make Mine Music.

‘Ombilical,’ (French for ‘umbilical’ no less) could be considered an exercise in, literally, navel-gazing, as it finds Johnson far removed from the introspective guitar-led songsmithery of his former group, Piano Magic and immersed in his love of electronic composition. By his own admission, ‘Ombilical’ serves foremost as a sonic toybox for Johnson, its often disharmonic, looped polyrhythms are inspired greatly by the Fluxus art movement of the 60’s and 70’s which emphasized the artistic process over the finished product. As he explains, “I don’t consider anything here to be finished. There’s a Meccano process to what I’m doing – ideally, I could, effectively, add to the tracks indefinitely until they no longer remotely resemble the starting point.”

Originally intended for release in 2018 and then again in 2019 (the letter-pressed sleeves bear either year accordingly), unhappy with the results, Johnson junked at least 2 prior versions of the album before settling on this ultimate collection. Guests here include Amanda Butterworth (aka Mücha), Oliver Cherer (Dollboy/Gilroy Mere), Ola Szmidt and Franck Alba (ex-Piano Magic).

‘Ombilical’ comes as an Arigato Pak, courtesy of Stumptown Printers, Oregon, letter-pressed by New North Press, London. It is left to the purchaser’s discretion as to where (or if) to cut the attached red raffia umbilical cord. Initial copies are accompanied by a 10 track bonus disc of synchronous recordings, ‘Prostheses.’