Under the moniker of Birds in the Brickwork, UK-based artist Ben Holton (epic45, The Balloonist, My Autumn Empire) combines photography and music to create pastoral vignettes of life in Britain from the suburbs to the countryside. His newest release, an EP called Coastal Study #1, is presented as “five pieces of music for five photographs taken by the Welsh coast”, following the same format as other musical “studies” such as Suburb Study #1 & #2 and Business Park Study #1.
The oceanside setting seems particularly inspiring to Holton as this is some of the most evocative and refreshing music he has yet created for the project. As the dizzying guitar lines of opening track “Fair Ride” tumble and spiral in cascades of melody, you can almost smell the candy floss and salt air after which the panorama widens out to contemplate the idyllic seaside from the remote beauty of “Hillside Mast Houses” and “Private Garden” to the warmly welcoming “Houses Facing Seawards”. Concluding with the deeply contemplative “Always, The Sea”, dusk falls peacefully on a lovely musical day out by the ocean. It is a compact journey, but a memorable and rewarding one as well.
Coastal Study #1 was released June 17, 2025, by Wayside & Woodland Recordings both digitally and in a limited CD edition accompanied by 5 full-color postcards.
Links: Bandcamp (CD/digital) | Wayside & Woodland Recordings
