I’m proud to announce the release of the new EP from Fovea Hex, titled The Salt Garden, on my own Headphone Dust label. It’s a limited edition 10 inch vinyl that also includes a CD copy of the EP, and additionally for pre-orders only a second CD featuring my own 21 minute interpretation of the track “Solace” from the EP.

It’s the first time I have ever released something by another artist, a testament to the unprecedented quality of the work. I’ve long been a fan of Fovea Hex, which for me is some of the most sublimely beautiful material ever recorded. In fact, in 2008 I invited singer / songwriter Clodagh Simonds to guest on my first solo record Insurgentes. Fovea Hex also counts the likes of David Lynch, Brian Eno and Underworld amongst its fans.

You may also recognise Clodagh’s name from her vocals on early Mike Oldfield albums Hergest Ridge and Ommadawn, and from her early ’70’s folk rock group Mellow Candle, which she formed in Ireland while still a teenager. Clodagh then dropped off the musical radar for decades, before returning in 2005 with the remarkable Fovea Hex project. The songs are dominated by a voice that’s too steely to be deigned ethereal, but remains too otherworldly to file alongside more conventional female singer-songwriters. The pace is languid, the arrangements intricate and fragile. Fovea Hex’s closest cousins would perhaps be 4AD artists such as Dead Can Dance, Cocteau Twins, and This Mortal Coil, but really this music is completely unique and exceptional. Fovea Hex is a mix of electronic and acoustic sounds from instruments ranging from state-of-art to ancient and arcane.

The Salt Garden 1 is the first in a series of 3 EPs released in conjunction with German label Die Stadt, and contains 4 brand new tracks.

This is an experiment for me, and I hope it goes well so that I can issue other music I’m passionate about on Headphone Dust in future. The EP will be shipping in early March, but you can pre-order it from Headphone Dust here.

To ensure you get the limited bonus CD, please pre-order now for shipping in February.

You can listen to a medley of music from the new EP in the embedded video below.

“Some of the most extraordinary songs I have heard in years” Brian Eno

“If Emily Dickinson had ever been allowed to make a record, this is probably what it would have sounded like” The Wire

“One of the most hauntingly lovely discoveries of this or any other century” The List