A Year in The Country: Lost Transmissions
Dystopic Visions, Alternate Realities, Paranormal Quests and Exploratory Electronica Stephen Prince A Year in The Country 2023 Pb, 237pp, £14.94, ISBN 9781916095274
A Year in The Country is a project and not just a series of books. A website with over 1,200 entries (ayearinthecountry.co.uk), music and book releases, all curated by Stephen Prince, have been on the go since 2014. This current volume is the fourth non-fiction book and it is in the company of two novellas, one artwork book, six associated albums or EPs, the website and various Spotify (and other streaming services) playlists – all by Stephen Prince.
To quote from the website, the aims of the project are “explorations of wyrd or otherly pastoralism; the flipside of bucolic dreams; the further reaches of folk music and rural culture; work that draws inspiration from the underlying tales of the land; and where such things meet and intertwine with the lost futures, spectral histories and parallel worlds of what has become to be known as hauntology”. If you’re not sure of what hauntology is then the current volume handily gives you a seven-and-a-half page definition. If you are more familiar with the Folk Horror Revival ideas of Andy Paciorek then you are in the right ball park. If you grew up during the latter part of the Cold War you will recognise the influences.
The Lost Transmissions entry to the canon takes in haunted soundscapes of electronica, cinema and television’s fascination with various forms of dystopia and the general prevalence of the occult in 1970s Great Britain.
The book is wide-ranging in its 16 chapters and it contains for me (and I suspect many readers of FT) aspects of the intimately familiar, sections in the “I’ve heard of that” category and also much new material of a similar vein (or to put this last statement another way – new music, books, films and TV to track down and enjoy).
The first chapter looks at the BBC TV show Leap in the Dark, broadcast between 1973 and 1980: four series (24 episodes in total) ranging from documentary through to re-enactments and pure drama. Various parts were presented by Colin Wilson or written by Alan Garner and not all of the episodes are present in the archives of the BBC. Prince tries to piece together the content of some episodes from Radio Times listings and contemporary newspaper reports. He seems to be unaware of the existence of the BBC Script Library where researchers can consult scripts of many long-passed shows. And in fact some of the episodes he tries to piece together are readily available on Youtube.
One thing missing from the book is illustrations. Chapter two looks at the twisted reality of Polish film posters. Fortunately these can easily be found online and I would urge you to seek them out as you read this chapter.
Musically, names such as Boards of Canada, Delia Derbyshire (most well known for her arrangement of the Dr Who theme music, an incredible talent), Ghost Box, Paul Weller and the Delia Derbyshire Appreciation Society are covered extensively.
For the visual side of things Nigel Kneale and Sapphire and Steel get a look in as well for the familiar aspects, along with often overlooked films such as the 1975 Rollerball and 1997’s Gattaca.
As there are many auditory and visual delights mentioned there are frequent references to their availability. For some there is currently no chance of getting them, or if they can be found they have a prohibitive price. The podcasts are easy to find and for some of the films in particular it is worth a quick search online. The entire film may not be found but enough clips will most likely be viewable to give a flavour of the atmosphere being invoked. And just occasionally some of the niche TV channels may even show them.
But there is one thing missing in this entire book. Writers and directors of films are mentioned, but not actors. This seems a strange omission, as think of the many ordinary films that have been transformed by the otherworldly performance of an actor.
This is a book full of the starts of journeys for the reader. I defy anyone to read it and not mentally note something to pursue as a follow up. There is an easy route available – the appendix features a Desert Island Discs-style list of 52 tracks that acted as “signposts, touchstones, significant markers and discoveries for A Year in The Country”. Sadly not yet a Spotify list on the website.
Overall, this is an overarching work full of a wealth of essays on source material to be enjoyed on nights when the weather is grim – a good storm outside might be best!
I’ll even forgive Stephen Prince two aspects of his book. Firstly some of his sentences can be a little on the long side – one runs to over half a page. And secondly, and perhaps more importantly, his mistake of calling Glasgow the capital of Scotland as opposed to my current residence of Edinburgh!
★★★★★