With his first release on Jo Johnson’s Silver Threads label, Plant43, aka Emile Facey, has shared a gorgeously heavy and emotionally charged voyage in sound. Spells For Warding Off Evil began as a happy accident during a troubling time. Shortly after Trump’s distressing second inauguration Emile had eye surgery while fully conscious. It was an understandably intense experience that came with risks, and he’d been advised to rest up. As usual, he couldn’t keep away from the studio and began making music. At some point, he accidentally pressed the hold function on his Roland SH-101, sustaining a note, and was thrilled to discover that this vintage monosynth was capable of creating thick, rumbling drones as well as the rich analogue bass and lead lines for which it’s usually known. Emile captured and layered these drone experiments, complementing and contrasting them with uncanny field recordings, a disembodied choir, otherworldly tones, and his own signature, bright analogue arpeggios. This is an album without constraints but with immense focus. Meditative at times, as the SH-101 breathes and purrs, at others cathartic and visceral. Each track a spell of protection. “Interacting directly with a single sound source in headphones was immersive and allowed me to express all sorts of emotions and ideas,” he explains. “A kind of purging of my fears and sadness. Once the bleakest places were explored hope started to well up and the music became different. The more hopeful music was also cathartic in its own way.” The CD has been mastered by Alex Gold at quiet details with his incredible care and attention, and the cover art and design is by Plant43. Each pack contains a Bandcamp download code card. Silver Threads previous releases include Alterations Volume One by Jo Johnson and If Not Now, When by Raica. Plant43 Bio London’s Plant43, aka Emile Facey, is known for an unwavering support of electronic music for more than 20 years – as an artist, DJ, event promoter and designer. His productions have been supported by luminaries like DJ Stingray, Helena Hauff, Dave Clarke, Surgeon, Rødhåd, Jane Fitz and Solid Blake and the list of plays include BBC Radio 1's Essential Mix, BBC 6 Music, Rinse FM, Threads, NTS and the Resident Advisor Podcast. He’s a regular guest at Tresor (Berlin), London's FOLD and festivals across Europe and recently performed at Vent in Tokyo. While he is best known for electro, Emile has never confined himself to a single musical genre, either as a listener or a producer. He has, in fact, released more deep listening than dance music albums to date. Spells For Warding Off Evil is his seventh ’ambient’ album, following releases on quiet details, Muzan Editions, Shipwrec, Ai and his own Plant43 Recordings label. He’s ventured into soundtrack composition, working with film maker Ardit Sadiku on his award winning documentary, Freestyle to Montenegro. And his collaborations include Hexagon Seam with Dan Bean (Old Technology, Transcendence Orchestra and Bleep43) and as VLF with Jo Johnson. As a co-founder of Bleep43, Emile has been showcasing electronic dance music at events since 2002, including Actress, Gerard Hanson (Convextion/ERP), Hieroglyphic Being, Donato Dozzy, Urban Tribe, DJ Stingray and more. He recently performed a live electro set at the crew’s farewell to Corsica Studios event, part of the much-loved club’s closing parties. Bleep43 also hosts horizontal, deep listening events with seminal artists of the genre like Sarah Davachi, Jonathan Fitoussi, Anthony Child, Imaginary Softwoods and Loula Yorke alongside residents Ali Wade, Bea Brennan, Dan Bean and, of course, Plant43.