SENDELICA/SECRET KNOWLEDGE/THE ORB – Windmill 2019 (12” Vinyl Single Fruits de Mer Records / CD FRG Records)

This is a very special release where 3 bands are collaborating in order to make “Dreamy” music to honor a beloved friend. The FdM press release will explain all you need to know and understand under which emotional circumstances this music was produced.

“A very special one-off 12″ single, featuring Sendelica, Secret Knowledge and The Orb. Sendelica are well-known to all followers of FdM, of course, but Secret Knowledge are unexpected visitors – legendary writer Kris Needs and singer Wonder Schneider recorded some classic House/Techno tracks for the likes of Andrew Weatherall’s Sabres of Paradise label in the 90s… as for The Orb, well Dr Alex Paterson and co pretty much invented ambient house at the end of the 80s and have been breaking through musical boundaries for the last 30 years. “Windmill” marks a rare organic collision between three disparate outfits who turned unimaginable tragedy into a beautiful eulogy after an astonishing musical journey.
On the night of Sunday, June 3, 2018, Kris Needs lost his soul mate Helen Donlon after an illness she preferred not to know about. A respected literary agent and author, Helen and had got together with Kris in 2013 and they lived happily in a medieval cottage in Thaxted until events took their terrible turn. Kris was already on a mission to bring Sendelica into the mainstream music press and struck up a friendship with Pete Bingham that was already pointing to a cover version of Tim Buckley’s “Driftin”. On hearing the awful news about Helen, Pete quietly transformed the music into a poignant eulogy with this tragic new dimension to deal with, bringing in Sendelica bassist Glenda Pescado, sax god Lee Relfe and production maestro Colin Consterdine to enhance its gorgeous swirl. When Wonder, who had sung with Kris in Secret Knowledge 25 years earlier, heard the piece she called it “Windmill”, after the beautiful place where Helen had been laid to rest. “The windmill looks so big and strong and beautiful,” she explains, “in a silent way, it watches over her, like you did. And it never stops, always protecting”. Wonder flew to the UK from her home in Cleveland, Ohio to sing the song at the magical Mwnci Studios, near Cardigan, giving a heart-wrenching performance while facing Helen’s photo (wearing her favorite purple velvet scarf) that reduced the room to tears. Helen’s beloved dog Jack, now her earthly representative, was also there to make the picture complete. It didn’t stop there either. Kris’s old friend Alex Paterson had already said he wanted to do a remix. Working with Paul Conboy, his co-pilot in Orb spin-off Chocolate Hills, Alex produced two time-stopping remixes, using a recording of Helen’s speech on her beloved Ibiza at the 2017 Breaking Convention conference; her last major appearance in public entrancing the crowd at the world’s foremost psychedelic drugs conference. With Kris’s photo of the Thaxted windmill on the cover, a rare heavenly synchronicity seemed to have been at work to produce this record. It’s an unimaginably beautiful tribute to a very beautiful person, lost too soon but alive forever in the music. She would have loved it”…

So, this record consists of 2 musical creations plus their 2 remixes. “Costerdine’s Floyd Mix” is a serene neo-ambient relaxing tune presented here under a Soulish background with some beautifully gentle and warm vocals while “Costerdine’s Original Mix” adds a big gauzy late 80s Pink Floyd veil to the track! Both versions, “Chocolate Orb Dubbed Mix” and “Chocolate Orb Chilled Mix” are using the same slow musical pattern (the latter is a bit chilled, as the title implies), instead of vocals there’s a clever and brilliant use of a Helen’s speech, filling the air with euphoria and a bit of bittersweet happiness! A cool release that it failed to make me feel bored even for a minute! (TimeLord Michalis)

RELEASE INFO:

Label: Fruits de Mer Records

Format: 12”, Vinyl Single, Limited Edition, Color 1

Format: 12”, Vinyl Single, Limited Edition, Color 2

Format: CD, Album, Limited Edition, Picture Disc, 250 copies

Release Date: mid-July 2019

Get it through FdM Records Web-Shop (UK Only Customers):

Get it through Heyday Mailorder:

Get it / Listen through Sendelica’s Bandcamp: