Harry Towell - Infinite Light (2023)

Harry Towell is an artist, composer and record label owner based in Lincolnshire, UK. He has been releasing ambient, electro acoustic and modern classical music since 2010 with records on labels including Lost Tribe Sound, Fluid Audio, Time Released Sound, Home Normal, Eilean, Polar Seas and his own Whitelabrecs imprint. Harry also records as Paper Relics alongside his brother Stuart and has collaborated with artists such as Sven Laux, Guy Gelem and Ekca Liena.

In 2010 for his debut album (Frozen Quarters), Harry captured field recordings from inside his home and placed these alongside lo-fi electro-acoustic compositions. In 2016 he became a home-owner and followed a similar process, capturing the sounds in and around his first property and this was released on vinyl via US label Lost Tribe Sound. The album was called ‘Light Through Open Blinds’.

It was a cold afternoon on the 9th of December 2022 when Harry, his wife Beth and their daughters Isla and Emily moved into a new family home in Morton, a quiet Lincolnshire village. After an initial period of settling in Harry began to sketch out ideas for a new album, using acoustic instruments as a starting point. He noted down events as they occurred in a 2023 diary that he was given as a Christmas present, took several photos and tracked the home improvement projects throughout the year. As with his two previous albums, he wanted to create a time capsule to reflect back upon nostalgically. The achievements and challenges from the year were cast alongside innocuous happenings. Moments of beauty, chance field recordings and sudden ideas were the driving force behind what is Harry’s most sentimental album to date. Isla and Emily helped perform some of the music, whether it be playing acoustic instruments, making field recordings or controlling guitar pedals.

Infinite Light blends a range of musical influences, from modern classical and folk, to ambient and electronics. There is a whimsical feel to the pieces, which are drenched in vintage tape effects to heighten the nostalgia. Work on the album continued throughout the four seasons, resulting in 28 tracks and close to 2 hours of music. The album is available in two versions; a double disc gatefold vinyl-effect CDr and a deluxe version which includes a 32 page booklet inside a presentation box. The digital version includes the booklet in PDF format and within this you can read insights into the production process, the local area, a journal and more, as well as view several photos from throughout the year. The cover artwork is a collection of leaves hand-picked from the garden and inside the inner gatefold sleeve is a photo of the village, taken via drone by local photographer Ian Cappitt.