A project between Demdike Stare and Finders Keepers, Manchester’s Pre-Cert Home Entertainment label debuted with the release of Anworth Kirk’s self-titled LP in October 2010. Kirk’s debut typifies the label’s focus on the theatrical and macabre within a stylistic nod to the industrial landscape of Northern England’s local history. Archive-inspired, Pre-Cert aims to expand an open catalogue of man-made and mechanical music and disparate archival noise.
 
As with all subsequent Pre-Cert artists, Anworth Kirk retains an aura of mystery and fiction around his music and persona. As with all of his album artwork, Kirk’s debut self-titled LP imparted very little information apart from a photograph of Anworth Kirk, a location used in the British movie "The Wicker Man", a 1976 cult classic whose exploration of pagan and folk culture within the framework of thriller, horror, and musical genres has earned it the reputation as a prime example of the short-lived “folk horror” subgenre. The music on Anworth Kirk follows suit; European folklore, tape loops, spoken word samples, spectral electronics and distempered paganism create an eerie, esoteric soundtrack.
 
Further unravelling the visual and sonic aesthetic premiered in Antwork Kirk, the artist quickly followed suit in November 2010 with the "Samhain Slant Azimuth Volume 1" sound collage mix created with Demdike Stare, and then 2011’s full-length, "Avonwaith", again available as a very limited run. Plunging once again into England’s dark folklore, the album conjures images of ancient traditions and rituals, primitive industry, and forgotten technologies through an unpredictable neo-realist collage. Parts of the album are presented in both Stereo and Mono, and, as with the debut full-length, it captures you in Anworth Kirk’s haunting fakelore.
 
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› CTM.12 › PRE-CERT HOME ENTERTAINMENT