In this summer of discontent, The Sick Man Of Europe meet in secret in a room beneath a factory on a hill. Crushed by the weight of brick and steel, and consumed by the relentless hunger for progress – here to document change. It’s an escape from the city and from the history unfolding in front of our eyes. These times are transient and our ideals are called into question at every juncture.

Five bodies stand in this room. An engineer and three operatives. They look towards the foreman. The spokesperson. For guidance and clarity where there is none.

“These ideas have evolved into something I never thought they would,” explains The Sick Man Of Europe. “Through exposure they have accumulated weight. The meanings have warped and twisted and they’ve become something else entirely – something more urgent. Repetition has deepened the grooves and cut into the earth. They are now beyond my careful control. Captured for posterity.”

A mechanical clank and the whir of magnetic tape. A voice from the depths.

“Transitions only exist when they are observed. Each document, when mapped to time, is nothing but a measurement of change. See this as snapshot, somewhere between the death of one idea and the birth of another. It is both the beginning and the end.”

Fade/Form (The Bunker Tapes) is a live document of The Sick Man Of Europe’s evolution from the studio to the stage. It follows the Moderate Air Quality EP and the eponymous debut album and is accompanied by a full-length performance video. It is released as a 4-track digital mini-album, and as a limited edition 5-track cassette.

Limited edition cassette (150 copies) – DOCK 77C

DOCK 77