Derbyshire, Delia & Hannett, Martin – "Synth & Electronic Recording Exchanges, The" – [Dandelion Records]

Sir Cumference   10/30/2019   A Library, CD

Martin Hannett – famed Factory producer – was a fan of famed Radiophonic Workshop sound artist Delia Derbyshire and ended up in an auditory correspondence with her. They both sent tracks to each other through the post, and Martin had compiled 33 of them for a release back at the beginning of the ’80s which never happened – until now! Unfortunately there appears to have been no notes for the compilation and with no one to ask – as Martin passed on in ’91 and Delia ten years later – we can only guess. Luckily for our ears Martin appeared to be channelling his inner Wendy Carlos and going for baroque, while leaving the uniquely Delian tracks to counter in a mostly alternating arrangement on this release (though towards the end, it started to sound more Delian.) I’m quite perplexed as to why they used a picture of Suzanne Ciani on the cover!