SFH/ 004/ GLEN JOHNSON/
INSTITUTIONALIZED EP/ cassette/ limited edition: 100 copies, SOLD OUT
july 2009
the tracks on 'institutionalized' come from the same home recordings sessions that formed my recent debut solo album, 'details not recorded'. even so, listening to them now within the context of an ep, they sound to me like a subtle progression, a signpost to the way forward.
around the time of recording, i spent a couple of days loitering around whitechapel hospital here in london, where joseph carey merrick ('the elephant man') was institutionalized in the 1890's. my obsession with merrick is well-documented but unashamed. his is a story of human wretchedness and human compassion. i'm fascinated by both in equal measure, though my attraction to wandering hospital corridors when i'm not the slightest bit ill might be viewed as worrying to some.
i've thrown in a cover of sonic youth's 'secret girl', not only because i've always loved the 'EVOL' album but because the words remind me of merrick and anyone else who ever looked (or felt) different. there's inexcusably something of david lynch's 'the elephant man' movie in my sonic palette here; the hospital's coal-fed victorian boiler room.
elsewhere, revenge, anger, loss, loneliness, violence, death, woe. business as usual -- myspace.com/glenashleyjohnson
kill you
ageing
come back
secret girl
i can’t help it
all tracks written by glen johnson except 'secret girl' by sonic youth.
all tracks recorded at home. early 2009.
piano on 'secret girl' by angèle david-guillou.
artwork/ tomm -- umanuvem.blogspot.com
glen johnson pic/ self-portrait with dog
IT-EU-UK-elsewhere/ 6.50 EUR ppd/
