Some four years since his last release under his own name, Lavington’s electronica composer Moray McDonald presents a soundtrack; the music he wrote and produced for Devizes’ Wharf Theatre’s production of Kit Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus, which was performed back in January…..
It was one of those rare occasions I stepped in to cover the dress rehearsal as our regular theatre critic Ian, was busy, stuffing a bucketload of Rice Krispies in the play! And I’m glad I did. I was uncertain if I’d take to director Liz Seabourne’s recreation of this Elizabethan gothic black comedy, but came out of there thoroughly enthralled. The composition of the play’s many components made it one of the best plays I’ve seen; the script, acting and production, yet it wouldn’t have been half as spookily ambient if it wasn’t for Moray’s soundtrack.
Image:@jenimeadephotography
They may only be nine snippets of sound, but with the music on Bandcamp at name your price, listening to it took me back to the play, and reminiscing at just how brilliantly sinister it was. Acts of Black Magic starts us off, an eerie soundscape, with harpsichord strings and jingling fool’s caps, Somewhat to Delight has an unnerving medieval court jester feel to it, grinning devilishly, and then we’re back on soundscapes, and Mendelssohn’s Wedding March gets a spooky underscore.
We swap from a soundscape to orchestral with each brief track, The Seven Deadly Sins nods playfully to Celtic folk dance, whereas the following Devil’s Attack lends more to Burana’s O Fortuna, but all are equally unsettlingly devilish or scary faerie. If anything it displays the diversity at Moray’s skilled hands, being his concentration has recently been on his Cephid project, a ground-breaking album of electronica,Sparks in the Darkness, which we fondly reviewed in 2023, and enjoyed a rare and intimate live performance of at Bath’s Rondo Theatre.
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A sublime evening of electronic elegance was had at Bath’s humble Rondo Theatre last night, where Cephid’s album, Sparks in The Darkness, was played out exclusively to a packed house. It was, in a word, breathtaking….
The type of genius who built a laser-harp at seventeen years old, Cephid‘s composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist Moray McDonald is bound by modesty, and appeared, prior to the show, understandingly nervous about the prospect of performing. He hadn’t contemplated ever reproducing this masterwork on stage, for the project began as a collection of demos he created “for fun.” “With all my focus being on creating an album that would live up to the grand ideas in my head,” he explained, “I didn’t stop to think about whether this music could be performed in a live environment.”
Seems he shies from being centre of attention, his comfort zone on stage favouring the many occasions he hides as a keyboardist in prog rock bands. Moray, currently residing in Lavington, cut his teeth touring with progressive rock and metal artists such as That Joe Payne, Godsticks, Kim Seviour and Ghost Community, more recently he remixed for OMD.
Moray was adamant this was a totally exclusive show which wouldn’t be taken on the road, although it has the magnitude of doing so. The show was produced and promoted by his partner Charlotte, who’s theatrical flamboyance encourages Moray to overcome his reservedness. Therefore a communal air bloomed in the audience, that this was a one-off treat, and we were the lucky few; because we were.
Being I was there to review, it probably didn’t help his anxiety any telling him I’d seen Kraftwerk at a Tribal Gathering of yore, where from every tent of every subgenre ravers descended to observe the roots of it all. “Kraftwerk was the beginning of everything,” he agreed.
While it’s an accurate summary of the origins of electronic pop music, Sparks in The Darkness delves beyond this for inspiration. It’s orchestral on a Jean-Michel Jarre level; even if the show wasn’t to the same scale it was in spirit. It nodded to the trial phase of electronic music, prog-rock’s psychedelic swirls found in Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin et al, and continues to the ambient house pioneers like The KLF and Orb. It rests on the heyday of electronica, the quirky experiments of new wave post-punk like New Order, and early US electro outfits, like Newcleus. Yet it incorporates contemporary technological advances, the variety of modern subgenres stemming from it, and it evoked in me a fascination with the history of electronic sound.
To contemplate futurist Luigi Russolo’s 1913 The Art of Noises theories, that music would change due to the ear becoming accustomed to mechanical, industrial and urban noises, and the dadaists flouting this, is to consider the eighties clunkiness of the engine sampling of the aptly named Art of Noise, or Yello, or the piercing hubbub of acid house’s 303s, for the sake of artistic expressionism rather than melodious music. Sparks in The Darkness doesn’t go there, it doesn’t tumultuously provoke, rather it’s polyphonically beautiful, sampleless, and tonally complimentary on the ear. In this, the decades of electronic music progression has become an epoch, therefore a “folk” music, effectively turning music full circle; Cephid is on that cusp, and proved it last night.
But not beforeThat Joe Payne, who later returned to the stage to provide vocals for Cephid, supported with an astounding original set. With just keyboard and voice he acoustically gifted us with a one-man rock opera, the like I’d never seen before. Combining camp comedy with tragedy, reminiscent of Elton John’s heyday and expressed divinely with the vast vocal range of Freddie Mercury, this was delicious vaudeville. Though I cite these clear influences, they broke the mould when they made That Joe Payne, and that is the only shame about this highly entertaining character.
If That Joe Payne was something which bucked my norm in the nicest of methods, the whole evening was equally different for me, who these days is used to traditional rock, folk, or blues bands, and even with a history of dance music under my belt, this wasn’t a rave anymore than it was a gig in the tradition of, even if the effect was similar. This was a showcase of modernism, an electronica fantasy in fruition. If at any point I likened it to something visually, it was Howard Jones meets Orbital, and that’s a high compliment.
The Rondo ignited with laser lights after the interval, colouring the subtle smoke machine output, and doused with a building ambient drone. Moray appeared onstage with electric percussionist Graham Brown, both dressed in white bodysuits with scarlet tie-belts. Layers developed and the album was played out sublimely, stretched to fit the show. The skill of the pair, to unite in sound and highlight exactly how these tunes were accomplished was insightful, and amazing. The only analogue instrument being a snare, the rest was digital technology caressed to evolve the most refined musical topography, an audio landscape masterpiece.
The grand finale was the usage of the triangular centrepiece, the laser harp Moray created at seventeen but had never used publicaly. Even if many in the crowd were connected in some way to Moray or the team, akin to a family party, everyone was held spellbound when the laser harp strings lit up, and Moray took position behind it.
If the perfect composition of this groundbreaking sound, with the laser show and theatrical performance wasn’t enough to convince anyone in the crowd to the monumental importance to the artist, and the rare and wonderful occasion this was, it was Moray’s expression of sheer joy, at the audience’s standing ovation. It was confirmation that this project, so immensely well received, is surely the testament, plus an ego boost, to the diffidence of a creative genius!
You might have missed this show, but you can (and should) buy the album HERE.
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Best part of a year has passed since Cephid released the groundbreaking electronica album, Sparks in the Darkness. At the time I said of West Lavington’s musician and composer Moray Macdonald’s alter-ego’s masterwork, it was composed of “gorgeous complex structures and intense electronic textures,” and comparing it thus: “like Jean Michel Jarre came after dubstep, as if 808 State created Tubular Bells!” On February 8th 2025, Cephid is coming to life, live at The Rondo Theatre in Bath……
Yeah, so I waffled in the review, from Dadaist Art of Noises to Delia Derbyshire and onto Kraftwerk, but it was hard to describe this album, to convey how technically constructed it was, because while contemporary, we usually associate electronic music with dance music ever since the slapadash rave era. While it’s certainly danceable, it also relies heavily on the ambience of prog and space-rock soundscapes of yore, and creates this timeless classic impossible to pin down.
The show will likely be that rare and unmissable occasion, Moray said he’s “very excited and a little nervous to announce the first ever Cephid live show!” but that he feels, “lucky to have such a great space to perform in, and I’ll be using light shows, projections, and more to bring the album to life.”
Partner Charlotte is producing the show with Nick Beere on sound. Graham Brown of Grace and Fire and The Paradox Twin will be on percussion and keys, and there’s a solo support performance by ex-Enid’s That Joe Payne.
Since releasing Sparks in the Darkness, Moray has spent a lot of time explaining his thought processes while producing it, and remixing Kleptocracy, the new single from Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark which charted at number 1 in the Official Vinyl Singles Chart in May. If you’re an OMD fan, or just have the slightest interest in any subgenre of electronic music, this will be an unmissable show.
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Just when I think every musician within a ten-mile radius is under our radar, another one pops up, and usually, they produce electronic music. So, I say, look, I know Devizes is a blues town, but Devizine covers all arts, and besides, I’m an old raver; ergo, if you’re creating music, electronic or not, you’re very welcome here….
Proving I’m an old raver, for photographic evidence is nil and memories vague, West Lavington’s musician and composer Moray Macdonald’s alter-ego Cephid’s forthcoming album, Sparks in the Darkness had me pondering a post on a Facebook group for ravers, which I wouldn’t be on if I wasn’t! Someone posted a video highlighting the work of Delia Derbyshire at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, another commented rightly she was a pioneer of electronic music, a second added “erm? Kraftwerk?” causing me to rant; it doesn’t take much these days!
Yeah, I’ll give you, Kraftwerk were the primary electronically generated pop group, but Derbyshire’s magnum opus, the Doctor Who theme, an electronic rework of a Ron Grainer composition, predates Kraftwerk’s first commercially successful album Autobahn by eleven years.
This raises a fascinating point; at electronic music’s clunky inception few sought it viable for commercial pop. Fatboy Slim pointed out, You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby. The BBC Radiophonic Workshop created sound effects ideally for sci-fi series. Lesser-known German electronic pioneers Tangerine Dream only became familiar to the masses during the eighties for their numerous Hollywood film scores. Organisation zur Verwirklichung gemeinsamer Musikkonzepte, Kraftwerk’s quirky and pre-synthesizer antecedent, was the crème-de-crème of kosmische Musik, Dusseldorf’s experimental scene of the sixties, but while it took psychedelia and space-rock to another planet, Melody Maker mocked it “krautrock,” a name which stuck as its genre.
Seems rock’s phobia of electronic progression was the reason for Britpop’s retrospection to acoustic instruments once rave came of age. The chalk and cheese mingle side by side in today’s pop; David Gray’s self-dubbed style, folktronica hammered that last nail in.
The relevance of all this is, while immersed in Cephid’s gorgeous complex structures and intense electronic textures, one cannot help but contemplate the combined efforts involved in contributing to this development, as it harks it’s influences and indulges those passed, no matter by Sparks in the Darkness comparisons all would sound timeworn. From the impact the Doctor Who theme must’ve had on the English television-watching nation, to The Art of Noise and Yello, and from avant-garde American electro outfit Newcleus, to Universe’s Tribal Gathering 1997, when I observed every raver ascend from their chosen subgenre tent to pay respects to Kraftwerk. Cephid encompasses these, yet is ultra-modern, uses tech as orchestral, and is as fresh as the Buxton spring; like Jean Michel Jarre came after dubstep, as if 808 State created Tubular Bells!
Futurism and sci-fi remains a large part of marketing presentation for electronic dance music, from the eerie android on the cover of Kraftwerk’s We Are the Robots, to Phil Wolstenholme’s Vergina sun spaceship on the Orb’s 1992 album U.F.Orb, Sparks in the Darkness follows suit with a mysterious red sphere projecting across a cityscape for its cover, strikingly designed by Tiago Marinho.
The album commences akin to ambient house’s finest, floating or bubbling spooky and mysterious layers of atmospheric swirls, but its orchestral build indicates time has passed since the fluffiness of The KLF and Orb. Moray Macdonald cut his teeth touring with progressive rock and metal artists such as That Joe Payne, Godsticks, Kim Seviour and Ghost Community. This is sharper, unsubdued, his harder-edged rock influences will insure bands like Pink Floyd, Hawkwind and the Ozric Tentacles will be acknowledged here; erm, The Prodigy’s punk fusion post-Jilted Generation too, in part. The opening track To Catch the Eye of the Heaven flows into the next, as a raver I note Leftfield, and I’m holding out for it kicking in.
Thirty seconds into the second tune, the single Worlds Before, and it does, and when it does it’s immense, a stomp to make New Order blush, with all the workings of modern technology, you are encased in this, what is a culmination of many years of work, and there’s no going back.
Moray defines it, “soaring melodic leads cutting through spacious washes of synths, while propelled by layers of sequencers, drums, and percussion. Pulverising techno seamlessly giving way to complex progressive workouts and moody, groove-driven soundscapes, all packed with lasting melodic hooks.” Yeah, I’ll go with that! It has the concept album quality in which you must indulge in it completely. By Terminus we’re nodding to up-tempo trance-techno, breaking with vocal coach Angel Wolf-Black’s celestial chants, but behind its entrancing bleeps binds this driving rock drum, either by Emily Dolan Davies, who has drummed for Bryan Ferry, The Darkness and Kim Wilde, or Graham Brown of The Paradox Twin.
Midway the pace lessens and Of Promises trickles into something definably more electronica, of Tangerine Dream’s sombre movie moments, of Don Johnson contemplating his fate as he leans on his white Ferrari looking out across Miami harbour’s night sky. Moray Macdonald has created music for film, theatre and art installations, and it shows.
Strobe takes off from where Of Promises lands us, like the later track Dead Hand’s Decree, it’s The Chemical Brothers on their best behaviour. Moray states, “the Cephid was created as an opportunity to bring diverse influences together into a single coherent artistic statement.” From his work with artists across the modern progressive scene, to his early love of experimental electronic music, many musical facets are represented, but still it flows in one radical and unique package impossible to pigeonhole.
There’s no surplus of talent left out of this project, Placebo’s Shelby Logan Warne, and Jerry Kandiah producer of Killing Joke and The Futureheads have mixed and mastered this, and while its not commercialised, just like Delia Derbyshire’s work in the sixties, it’s too groundbreaking to be ignored.
As The Old Me, plays out, even its name prompts me to imagining myself hearing this in a field somewhere in 1991, amidst matted trilby wearing juniors, eyes the size of saucers and dribbling on a Wrigley’s, it is so innovative, so radical, I’d probably have had a seizure!
“What’s wrong with him!” one raver asks another as I lie comatose.
“He’s had a premonition of the future of electronic music and his fragile mind cannot handle it; somebody get him a Technotronic album, pronto!!!”
The single Worlds Before is out now. Sparks in the Darkness will be released 9th February 2024. Find out more about the project HERE.
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