Sleep in the Shadow of the Alternator: LYRICS

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1. The Body Becomes a Viewfinder

Held in the open hand of the crease of the valley
This town has been abandoned twice
But now we have been driven
Back through night
Through network, through memory
To stand on this clutter of ancient rubble
This ledge of moss, grass, lichen, stone
The caldera of an expired volcano
Now our vantage point
To relive some transient moments
And overlook its geometry and meaning
As the morning inhales the mist
The hill at sunrise
Tell me what you can see from here
The signature of smoke
The gradient edges of the settlement
Settled here
Becoming familiar
Neuron traceries of streets and wires
Perpendiculars
Sectors meet in feet and inches
Junctions and intersections
Receiving and receding
Into clusters of anonymous structures
Patched in discoloured steel
Solemn shades arranged in rows
Zoom in, slowly
The clocktower and disused railway
The vacant cutting, the tumbling embankment
The ruin of the platform clinging to the barrier
The crossing signal box
The bones of the quarry
White dust ascends in a faint helix
Damp red brick and shuttered concrete
Corrugated rooves and saw-tooth spires
Houses, factories, municipal buildings
A monument
Isolated in rough, cleared ground
You have been here before
Zoom in again
And all of this
Within sight of the pit top and headstocks
The countenance of the mineshaft
It gazes out across the ward
Two orbits, suspended
The sheave wheels and frame
Blackened and motionless
For forty years or more
Crumpled exuviae
Sloughed off by industry
Or slumbering
As streetlights expire and home light stirs
Where are you?
Where are you now?
Well, we are the sentinels
Observing
Awaiting new growth
There is a blankness to the scene
A transparency
Jamais vu
It is beyond familiar
The moist air of this place fills the lungs
And hangs in the nose
Deep brown Autumn smell
An astringent sensation
If you hold your breath
Zoom in once more
There's a figure in the distance
An image of an image of myself
Moving to the edge of the scarp face
To stand like a beacon
Ready to receive the transmission
The thumb and index finger improvise a frame
It is wide open
The body becomes a viewfinder
Geospatial perception
Latitude and longitude
You are the conduit
Let the terrain surge into you
Zoom out

Retriangulate

What's this, under our feet?
Agglomerate and tuff
Boulder-sized clasts
Cemented into breccia
Marking this spot since forever
Ejected from the fissure
Born in liquid fire
Then solidified
Into the cold sinuous sweep of the topography
In syncline and anticline
Visible grids
Covert lines
Hold steady
Azurite
Hematite
Malachite
Markfieldite
Hard granite
Marked with pathways of faults
Each crevice dark and soft
Blanketed with saturated matter
Wet mud
Knotted wood
Rhizomes on Precambrian rock
Whose shoots unfurl into Moorland scrub
Zoom out once more
Chest deep bracken
With the motion of water
Heaving in wake and wash
Forming eddies
Over sheltering invertebrates
Vibrations disturbing slowworms
Tasting the air
Anticipating the sun's zenith
A dappled canopy over what was once the ocean floor
600 million years in cycles and layers
Deep under the soil
This is reptile knowledge
This town has been abandoned twice
But now we have been driven
Back through rain, through muscle memory
It is defined by your absence
It is without continuity
Faded
But these rocks are magnetic
You are subject to the wrench of its tide
You are its passenger
From point B to point A
With thoughts in circles
In vehicles of the past
Where are you now?
You discover the shape of the wheel
The resistance of the pedals
You recall the dimensions of this machine
It is an extension of you
Tracing routes through distance mechanisms
Following the trajectory of the carriageway
Bridge, bypass and junction
Passage, sign and system
You are disconnected
From bitumen, aggregate and anthracite
And drawn instead to a flame on the dash
And the map torn to pieces
Tell me what you can see from here
Navigate by the sound of my voice
Leading you astray
With the characteristic trip of the tongue
Or resonance in the mouth
You will be wrong
When you guess where I'm from
I am no longer betrayed by it
The larynx and lips
That name this place
52 degrees 43 minutes 36.5 seconds North
1 degree 22 minutes 51.7 seconds West
The mirrors reflect your origin
The mirrors reflect your destination

2. Magic Flora of The East Midlands

Hawthorn, Crataegus monogyna
…it is Beltane, the return of Summer
Fern, Pteridium aquilinum
…invisibility, mysterious reproduction
Henbane, Hyoscyamus niger
…and visions, the sensation of flight
Stinging Nettle, Urtica dioica
…immaculate, prosperous
Liberty Cap, Psilocybe semilanceata
…to induce delirium
Devil's-Bit Scabious, Succisa pratensis
…and virtue, a balm for the skin
Yarrow, Achillea millefolium
…divination, healing of wounds
Mistletoe, Viscum album
…to summon airborne spirits
Yew, Taxus baccata
…and the image of the Goddess
Fly Agaric, Amanita muscaria
…altered perception, lucidity
Sage, Salvia officinalis
…immortality, resurrection
Vervain, Verbena officinalis
…and protection, prediction
Elder, Sambucus nigra
…to summon waterborne spirits
Daisy, Bellis perennis
…heliotropic, declarations of love
Rosemary, Salvia rosmarinus
…to remember the departed
Mugwort, Artemisia vulgaris
…and prophecy, the traveller's shield
St. John's Wort, Hypericum perforatum
…to repel malevolent forces
Moonwort, Botrychium lunaria
…and open locks and guard silver
Dandelion, Taraxacum officinale
…second sight, transformation
Blackthorn, Prunus spinosa
…a threshold, or boundary
Rowan, Sorbus aucuparia
…perhaps good fortune
Lady's Mantle, Alchemilla mollis
…to turn base metals into gold
Hemlock, Conium maculatum
…before certain death
Holly, Ilex aquifolium
…and the blood of Christ

Rushing water

In the distance, hyperboloid towers pour columns of vapour into the air. The alternator casts its spell and the brothers observe from here, silently, in hooded robes the colour of the forest. These men have learned the science of malt, hops, yeast and water.

Now they brew a strong, dark drink, the only one of its kind. Encircling the mash tun, they find their faith refreshed, intoxicated by the clarity of their purpose, a ring of electricity. They chant the litany of occupations, the people of the network, the major arcana:

Collier
Farrier
Rollerman
Waterman
Steeplejack
Publican
Bell founder
Falconer
Ostler
Hosier
Farmer
Joiner
Shackler
Wheelwright
Spragger
Plough wright
Charcoal Burner
Costermonger
Incline Winder
Ironmonger
Cobbler
Gummer
Clipper
Cooper
Baker
Hawker
Thatcher
Burglar
Bailiff
Blacksmith
Sexton
Mayor
Parkkeeper
Timberer
Salvage Man
Minister
Painter
Packer
Plumber
Tracker
Ripper
Sinker
Borer
Burster
Wheelman
Shaftsman
Brakesman
Switchman
Spiritualist
Geologist
Occultist
Projectionist

Roll the film…

3. Move Like a Freight Train

The edges of everything, softened by Winter
Seen from the window, in parallax

Archive holdings: photographic material relating to the open day at the Falcon Works, 1986

Box 1: transparencies, plans of the site, construction work, aerial views

Box 2: negatives, interior view of the turbine hall, machine shop, canteen, cranage, weigh bridge, assembly line, demonstration of testing in progress

The edges of everything, softened by Winter
Seen from the window, in parallax

Ex terra opes

Move like a freight train
That motion you make
Covers hundreds of miles
Cover hundreds of miles
There's a simple gesture
And you make it all the time
It inhabits you
It inhabits every single part of you
And you're thinking all the time
Think about where you've been
And where you've gone
Think about distance and depth
And effort and ease
About flight and inertia
And torque and release
Think about those women in the 1950s
Think about them calling to the dead
Hands touching
They spasm back and forth
There's a complicated gesture
And you make it all the time
Always moving forward
Move across invisible lines
It oscillates
Turn yourself around
Through technique and training
Now climb the incline
And you're thinking all the time
About abandon and sobriety
Spontaneity and insularity
Anthropology, building a community
And moving like a freight train
Move like a freight train

Box 3: publications and microfiche, control and instrumentation for synchronous induction motors, harmonic excitation system for high tension generators, installation of the dynamo and turbo machinery

Box 4: machine parts, control gear, panels, vertical motors and casings, salient pole rotor, bearings, pedestals, stators and frames, cooling system, terminal box, flameproof inverter, compressor, alternator

Spiralling into the excavation
Down into the pit that's so vast
To see for ourselves in all directions
The site of the open cast
And now we're lifted inside the drag line
Men head-height to its suspension
And they drive a truck straight into its bucket
To demonstrate the dimensions
Imagine its embrace, now imagine
The motion of its maw, now imagine
The cold steel kiss; the machine on the ground
And its force on the earth and the terrible sound
And we're digging down
And there's two different gestures
And you make them all the time
Always moving downwards
Moving through eluviated lines
Through the blown-out concrete
And Iron pyrite
Of prefabricated buildings
Swarming with wasps
Assembled by consortium
In sight of the seam
And the coal is exposed
These are all things you've seen
And you're thinking all the time
About flickering lights
Like sodium lamps, like the television
Like those home movies
Moving slightly too fast
In those saturated colours
The persistence of vision
It scintillates
Turn yourself around
And move like a freight train

4. It is a Beautiful Day (1000 Years Later)

It is a beautiful day
This is a beautiful place
Pink aeroplanes drift overhead
Without pilots
Without passengers
And the sky is a gauze between this world and infinity
It is a beautiful day
Particle by particle
Otherwise
The machinery left behind footprints
The footprints became rivulets
Rivulets formed a delta
The delta drained into the crater
The crater has become a lake
It is inevitable
Obsolescence
Everything has reverted to nature
The forest is now gestural
Vegetation waves a perpetual farewell
Pale and dark blossoms are once again in equilibrium
It is cyclical
Sycamore keys
Loosened by the breeze
Descend through the air
Bronze light through translucent wings
Turning, falling onto the surface of the water
Mirrors in mirrors
Beneath which
Vehicles have long been submerged
And liquified
In the turbid depths
The drowned carcass of the dragline
Lies on its side
Among fish and weed
Prone skeletons of railway track
Dispersing as rust
Particle by particle
This change of state
Witnessed by zygopteran naiads
And diving beetles
Clinging to buoyant, silver cushions
Ancient eyes observing
This is insect knowledge
It is cyclical
There is only one way out
Your body dissolves
There is a realignment
You feel yourself become increasingly diffuse
Your personality billows away
Yeast falls through the air and lands on you
And when you next emerge
Metamorphosed
Somehow, your memory is intact
It is too vivid
Do everything you can to stay calm
Your life depends on it
It is inevitable
Who would have thought it possible?
The pink aeroplane descends
And lands
They arrive in a haze of nitrogen, argon, carbon dioxide
Archivists of some kind, perhaps
They cut through the undergrowth
Emerge into the clearing in pairs
To survey the area
They knew of a time when this was two planets
Then two planets touched
Then there was dust
Then one planet
They understand the nature of deep time
From stone tools
To the end of technology
We will no longer speak of this detritus
This is android knowledge
Mirrors in mirrors
The hum of their device indicates…
Nothing
They have come too late
To solve the puzzle
The paradox of our solitude
The discrepancy
They should introduce themselves
But we are gone
We have dissolved completely
Instead, they encounter…
Labyrinth spiders
Requiem sharks
Ancient eyes

You know
Reality is a membrane
New growth poking through
The clouds like crumpled sheets
The map imprinted on skin as you wake
There is only one way out
Do it blissfully
It is a beautiful day